EASTER

Easter weekend was marvelous: full of birthday parties, bridal showers, Easter dinner with family (where I picked up some great recipes), and singing in The Garden, an allegorical oratorio, or musical tribute to Jesus Christ. It was a busy weekend, but a happy one! And a good reminder that my Heavenly Father loves me, individually, as much as he loves anyone else or all of mankind-and the same is true for you! I love the hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that all of our sins AND suffering can be fixed, made up for, through His atonement.

Making Easter Bunnies (so what if it looks like a dog):
strawberry cake, vanilla icing, coconut, & raspberries

Got Christmas presents from my Dad-just in time for Easter!!
That's how he rolls. Personally, I like spreading out the Christmas joy!

From last year's performance of The Garden

Purpose of Life

I know, kind of tackling a giant but certain events on Sunday got me thinkin'...

Sunday was a great day; it pretty much always is. I went to church and learned, listened, pondered, and conversed about great topics: like the love of God for each of us, scriptures, and the Priesthood (the power of God here on earth).

I am so blessed to have been raised by parents who did everything they could to provide us with a solid foundation, including our family's membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not only was I surrounded by people, friends, and associates of faith growing up who shared common values but I now attend church on a weekly basis (and activities on, well, pretty much a daily basis) with hundreds of people my age who I consider good friends. People who want the best for me, are happy when I succeed, empathize with me when life is less than fabulous, and definitely have my back!

This background and subsequent life experience has taught and enforced for me many eternal truths, not the least of which is the fact that my life-everyone's life-has a purpose far greater than the 75-80 measly, problem-laden, disease-ridden, difficult years we will live. I hope this is sufficient preface for what happened Sunday evening:

After a nice night with family and celebrating some friends' birthday, I got a phone call from a family member notifying me that my great-uncle (dad's dad's brother, if you follow) Charles had passed away. It wasn't particularly difficult or distressing news for me as he had lived in the midwest my entire life and I only met him on a couple of occasions going to or from our family vacations on the east coast. But I started thinking about the man he was and the life he had lived.

Devoted son, brother, husband, uncle, great-uncle, cousin, friend. A pilot-he loved telling and enchanting everyone with his flying stories. He served honorably in WWII. Tuberculosis took one of his lungs and eventually caused his death when he refused to take medication that would strengthen the one remaining lung against pneumonia which he got last fall.


It all made me a little sad as I thought about it. He died at home, alone (his wife died last year), in the middle of the night, his home care nurse only finding him later; he had previously made the decisions to donate his body to medical science (so there would be no burial, no place for the people who cared about him to visit in his honor) and not to hold a funeral service. So essentially, all of his hard work and dedication, his entire life, would come down to a 50-75 word obituary in the local paper??

No, I quickly reminded myself...he had influenced many people over the course of his life: lovingly caring for family members, impacting young, impressionable nieces and nephews with his colorful, slightly offbeat humor and personality. Not only that, but he still lives, despite his mortal life having ended. I believe very firmly in a life after this one and that we will have the chance to be reunited with the people we care about that have already died.

Uncle Charles lived the life he needed to, inspired the people he was supposed to, and learned the things necessary for him to now progress on a much bigger, eternal scale. Similarly, millions of people have lived lives of obscurity, not leaving a mark noteworthy for the world's standard, but I am so thankful to know each person's life is valuable and important.

Sunday Gems

Last Sunday (well, September 18th), I hit the jackpot! I heard two really great talks:

The first was in church. Lay members of the congregation speak in LDS church services, which I LOVE. Not only does everyone get a chance to practice public speaking, we also get to hear different personalities and viewpoints expand on simple truths and doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's GREAT! Bro. Gordon Smith (former U.S. Senator from Oregon) spoke about self-identifying and defining yourself; something that is especially pertinent to me at this point in time: unemployed, not in school... :) Below are the highlights:


I would urge you to be defined by your gifts, not by your current job.
Your calling is to find your spiritual gifts.
Find your gift and give it away.
You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give. -Winston Churchill
Told the story of Joseph (sold into Egypt). Elaborated on how difficult things were for him at work: a slave, rather unpleasant situation with boss's wife, thrown in prison (multiple times), but he went to work to serve.
Also shared an experience about hiring two girls from BYU into his senate office, figuring he'd give them a chance. He said they came to work not because the work they were doing was extremely important; they came to make the lives of those they worked with better.


You know a talk is great when you start making a list at the bottom of your notes, outlining your own spiritual gifts. :)



The second talk was a part of the "Why I Believe" fireside series, Sunday evening talks sponsored in part by the Washington D.C. Temple Visitor's Center (open to the public daily, 10am to 9pm). Business executives and community leaders are invited to share the source of their faith in Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. Brad Bryan, an old bishop (pastor, congregational leader) of mine, shared the story of his conversion to the LDS (Mormon) Church. He is a powerful writer and speaker. I filled up a whole week of my tiny 3"x5" planner copying as much of what I thought applied to me as I could:

Three men are put in a room and told the one who can open the door will receive a great prize. Two of the men immediately begin doing complex calculations to determine the makeup and specifications of the mechanisms and hardware of the door. The third man walks over to the door, turns the knob, opens the door and walks out. We don't try and yet many things are in our very power.

The secret of life: be ready for opportunity.
It is not that we endeavor to get ahead of others, but to surpass ourselves.
"Facing up to reality" or "understanding our limitations" but it's giving up all the same.
Brad Bryan says the first reason he believes is because of the confidence the Church helped restore in him.

Of course, it is the responsibility of those who hear the talk to actually apply what they furiously write down into their lives...

He's Alive!

Okay, so I promise this blog won't become a shrine to my brother's missionary service in Chile. But he survived his first week in-country and I'm so proud of him!! Posting his FIRST email from Santiago, well, pieces. The parts that remind me of my mission :) Say some prayers he will be protected and led to speak with those who are ready to hear his simple but TRUE message! Thanks.

Hola Familia!

Well, I´m not as stressed out as I was at first but it´s totally crazy! Because I can´t understand what people are saying! Oh, and interesting fact for you all...I´m not learning Spanish!!! I´m learning something called Castallano (I think that´s how it´s spelled), which is a dialect of Spanish!!!

It is SO different here!!! Apparently Santiago is the second greatest civilized city in South America...they even have a McDonald´s and a KFC!!!

There´s more dogs than smokers - and in a week I can´t count how many smokers I´ve seen. I´ll probably come back to the States addicted to secondhand smoking! (Hopefully not)

They drive really crazy here. The one thing I continuously pray in my heart for besides people who want to hear the gospel, is for all the cars that are here to have their breaks working.

P-day was good today! Happy 4th of July! We played soccer and had churipans! Oh and the mayo here is top of the line! Churipans are slightly thicker mini hot dogs wrapped in bread with any condiment of choice. It´s pretty good!

The main meal here is lunch - in fact, it´s such a big meal that there have been a few days here where I have had only lunch and I have been COMPLETELY fine. It´s weird sometimes having only one meal a day but I´m getting accustomed to it.

Most schools here are on strike! Chairs are backed up to the gates with students patrolling with metal pipes and bats. Something about wanting better education.

(Something else I forgot to mention): Every place...EVERY PLACE...has a gate or fence of some sort here! I can´t think of a place I´ve seen here without one! So that´s pretty weird.

And it´s COLD here in the mornings! No snow, not really any wind...it´s just cold!!! It´s like the air itself is the essence of cold! But that is just the mornings. Once it gets about to 9am it´s not so bad and it doesn´t get cold until the next morning when I wake up...so it´s not Too bad - it´s just freakin cold in the mornings!

Church was really good! There was a baby blessing and the Primary kids made me short little welcome cards! They are all so wonderful!!! When I introduced myself, I was blessed not to forget all my Spanish and was even able to get a laugh out of them! So it´s not too bad. I just can´t understand what they say back to me. So that part is bad. But other than that life is pretty good!

President and Sister Laycock are just about the greatest people I could have for mission presidents!!! It was so cool! We each had a short interview with the President and Wow! Every time I learn more and keeping the commandments I realize again and again, with more surety that this Church is the True Church! There is NO way it´s NOT true! And all the members are just one big family! Sacrament meeting and the other meetings don´t change...except they´re in spanish!!!

We had a Public Presentation two days ago (where we go do something in the plaza) and we shined people´s shoes while we talked of the gospel...it was the coolest thing ever!! It was pretty funny too!! Me and Elder Gordon were trying to talk to this one man and after we left, Elder Gordon told me a few of the things he said...1 - How come you don´t ever have any African American (what he said was nigger) missionaries? 2 - You are all spies sent to check on the situation in Chile 3 - A few other things that aren´t very nice that Elder Gordon refused to share with me.

To all those types of people with crazy ideas...I just want to tell them...PICK ANY OF OUR CHURCH HOUSES - IN THE WORLD, Then go to any other of our church houses (in the world) and tell me if it´s really all that different!!!! Because it´s NOT! The church is the same all over and it´s true. And you will realize - huh they don´t seem like spies to me...if nothing else they´ll know that what we are teaching is what really happens!!!! It´s just frustrating to have to think that there are even people in the world that exist with such strange ideas!!!! You can´t battle craziness!!!! You just have to share your testimony and walk on by!!!! I just want to tell them that I chose to come on a mission and no one like the government sent me because I like being warm in the mornings!!!! Yep, you can´t battle craziness!!!

But the Gospel is still true! All things done under God´s power can´t be undone without it being His will! Just because someone goes apostate doesn´t make the church which God restored (through a prophet) it doesn´t make the church untrue! And that´s that!

Well...I think that´s that (at least until next week). I´m trying to think of more to write -OH...We had two baptisms this last sunday...an elderly couple Jacob y Luisa. They are great...(almost everyone here calls us some relation) and they call me their nieto or grandson.

Oh, and Chileans say PO like Canadians say EH. It´s pretty funny...I´ll have to try to get that down.

Surprisingly - they play a lot of popular american songs in english here (in fact I´m listening right now to We are the Champions)! Being american, or being able to go to america or other stuff like that makes you pretty cool for some reason around here...something like that.

I´ve also found that it sucks when appointments for teaching fall through! You just want to yell to the world...WHAT WE ARE TEACHING IS GOING TO MAKE YOU THE HAPPIEST YOU HAVE EVER BEEN... PLEASE DON´T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF PASSING THIS UP! But...it happens.

Wow...it got dark soon.

Chau!

LOVE

Elder Kimball

CHI CHI CHI, LE LE LE, CHILE!

Disclaimer: There is no picture with this post because after 8 1/2 weeks in the MTC, we have received ZERO pictures from our dear missionary. We stopped receiving letters a few weeks in. Apparently we should have been sending stamps instead of cookies.

After two long (believe me Elder Kimball, I understand) but valuable months at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, Elder William Kimball flew to Chile (Santiago East) yesterday to begin the remaining 22 months of his 2 year LDS Mission.

Young men and women spend anywhere from 3-12 weeks at the MTC learning how to teach the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and usually studying another language. From personal experience, I know the work they are called to do all over the world is the most sacred, inspired, important work and the best thing they could possibly be doing with their time! Not only are they humbly inviting people to learn more about their Savior Jesus Christ, about a book called the Book of Mormon and about a boy who was called to be a prophet named Joseph Smith, but they are (frequently obliviously) learning more about themselves, the Latter-day Saint Church, religion, culture, psychology, sociology, cooking, cleaning, motivation and leadership in a 2-year time period than they have learned in their entire life up to that point!

As evidenced in emails he has been sending us, it is clear Elder Kimball has already learned a lot (starting with week 1 up through last week):

I miss you all loads, but the grand thing is is that there's so much to do I don't have time to be distraught about it. THE MTC IS LIKE YOUR BEST FRIEND(S)! Take EFY and "multiply it by six!.............." I will be sending part of a written letter later, because there is some info I would like you guys to have. If you could please send my regards to everyone and tell them I am reading their letters, I just can't respond to everything...My first meal was steak and potatoes and yes I ate everything on my plate(s) :)

There's something here called the free box! Any elder puts anything in there it's yours for the taking (I have a box of Nerf Guns!)

I'm in a great district...It's almost liked we planned it in the pre-existence!


I'm pretty sure every missionary here feels like the prophet Mormon..."not even a hundredth part can I write." And it's so true. We have the coolest teachers here and we have the best district and zone. We have just about the best everything! I miss you all and love you all and Can't wait for the second coming so I can remember and tell everything to you all.


Well...it's been 5 weeks!! Certainly hasn't felt that long. It honestly still seems like I just got here yesterday...and if things go according to regular schedule for the MTC, then I'll be a Hosting Missionary this Wednesday!!! The "homework" here has been bumped up a notch since we got Hermano Ellot to be our teacher! He is way cool. He's also more "you can do this, (at least with the Lord's help), so do it! It's good practice for the field, I guess.

MTC is really spelled G - R - E - A - T - !

I know the Gospel is True! I know that we will be blessed if we are obedient!!! I know we can be happy also if we are obedient!

Things going on here: I finished reading the Miracle of Forgiveness! It's pretty powerful - I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!

Teaching is going great (except for it could still be better). But it's been getting better!

We should be leaving for Chile in about 2 weeks! I can't wait to get out, meet my trainer and mission president and get to work!

Well...Oh yeah! We got a really great lesson the other day from Hermano Jensen...HOLY SMOKES! He is a great teacher! And he gave us some study work and we'll also be having another great lesson Saturday evening from him.

I'm not sure there is too much to tell...most of it is small stuff...eating, sleeping, and studying...All what's left that's cool that I can say is that MIRACLES DO HAPPEN! I remember a saying, "If the church were not true, the 19 year old boys that go out on missions would have sunk the church, years ago"...and so very true! The Gospel is real and it blesses the faithful young men and women who go out and serve missions. The church will grow! But, as President Hinckley said, "Activity is the genius of God's church." I believe there will most certainly come a time when it IS every member a missionary because either you'll be for God, and will be able to stand the trials that will come your way, or we'll not be as hardworking as we should be in the church, in inviting and teaching, and because of our lax nature, we'll lose our testimonies and our good standing with God, and we will be left to ourselves to deal with our problems. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "As we come closer to Christ, the path of discipleship becomes narrower and narrower..." keeping the commandments probably will take more faith and sacrifice in being obedient. I know the President, his Counselors and the Quorum of the Twelve are Special Witnesses and receive guidance to direct the church. THE HEAD OF THIS CHURCH IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST - the prophets just speak His words. So listen.

Give my love to ALL the family, everywhere - learn from your own and others mistakes so you don't have to make them as well

And the Church is True.

Love you all

Elder Kimball

After saying "Sé que nuestro Padre Celestial nos bendecirá al guardar los mandamientos," he was gone from the other end of the phone. I love you Elder Kimball! See you in 22 months!

Origins

On October 31, 2009 I walked out my door on the 4th floor of an apartment building in Cluj-Napoca, Romania to find dog poop and one kiwi fruit occupying the same 1 square foot space on the landing. Aside from having a strong desire to regurgitate breakfast, I was intrigued. How do two seemingly different objects come to be in such close proximity to each other?? The wonderfully fabulous Sora V., who resides in my top ten favorite people in the entire world list, kindly posed for a picture:

after which, I laughed to myself while the aforementioned Sveta Vasylyeva likely mused on how strange her companion was. Perhaps it was the state of eternal exhaustion I seemed to be functioning in or the two hours I had just spent attempting to create analogies and metaphors tied to scripture stories and religious principles in personal and companion study, but that combination seemed like the perfect example of how nonsensical and purportedly messed up life can seem. I therefore vowed in the elevator ride down that kiwi and dog poop would somehow become my life maxim, motto or mascot, if you will, for putting life events into perspective and proper order. And so it begins...