More of her last letter of December 5th

SISTER KIMBALL WILL BE SAYING GOOD BYE TO THIS BEAUTIFUL PART OF OUR COUNTRY ON MONDAY

  DECEMBER 12,2011.

Thank you all again! I am excited to see you all soon but ...I am sad to leave what I have devoted all my heart, might, mind, and strength in doing these past 18 months, serving God and His children.

     _______________________________________________________

This upcoming week we are really busy with a lot of teaching appointments and baptisms on Saturday. Morgan is for sure getting baptized this December 10th at 10:00 a.m. I will also be having my exit interview on Sunday. I'll be having dinner at the mission home for the missionaries that are leaving followed by a testimony meeting. We will all than be leaving for the airport on Monday at 7:00 a.m. I'm not sure how it is all going to come together but I don't want to think about it. I'm taking it one day at a time, one moment at a time. I am just sooo excited for all the wonderful things we have planned! We will be working really hard! I'm giving it my ALL, every last bit of it!

       Thank you everyone for all your love and support and all your emails, your thoughts and prayers in my behalf. I have been so blessed because of all that you have done for me to help me have the most successful mission I could have. Words just can't describe how grateful I am.

     _________________________________________

I want to bare my TESTIMONY

 I KNOW THAT CHRIST LIVES. i KNOW THAT HE IS THE WAY, THE LIGHT AND THE TRUTH. I KNOW THAT WHEN WE PUT OUR FAITH IN CHRIST,ALIGN OUR WILL WITH HIS, REPENT,BECOME EQUALLY YOKED WITH HIM, HE WILL HELP US. MIRACLES AWAIT US WHEN WE DO. I KNOW IT, I'VE FELT IT, I'VE LIVED IT, AND SEEN IT. HE DOES LIVE!

I KNOW THAT THIS IS HIS ONLY TRUE CHURCH ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. I KNOW THAT ONE WILL COME NEARER TO CHRIST BY READING AND STUDYING THE BOOK OF MORMON AND BY LISTENING TO HIS MODERN DAY PROPHETS. I LOVE THE GOSPEL, I LOVE MY SAVIOR, I AM DEEPLY INDEBTED TO HIM FOREVER. I WILL CONTINUE LIVING MY LIFE THAT WILL BE PLEASING TO HIM AND TO SHOW MY DEEPEST GRATITUDE AND LOVE FOR HIS SACRIFICE IN MY BEHALF. I KNOW THAT TRUE, ULTIMATE HAPPINESS COMES THROUGH FOLLOWING IN HIS FOOTSTEPS AND BY KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS. I KNOW THAT GOD REALLY DOES KNOW US, HEARS OUR PRAYERS, AND THAT HE LOVES US BEYOND COMPREHENSION. I LOVE THIS QUOTE BY ELDER WIRTHLIN," WE SEE OURSELVES AS YESTERDAYS AND TODAYS, BUT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER SEES US AS MEN AND WOMEN WE ARE CAPABLE OF BECOMING."

I love you all. I am so very grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission for 18 months. It has been the most rewarding, fulfilling and joyful 18 months of my life. I can't believe it is almost over, but actually, it is not. Missionary work will always be one of my number one focuses for the rest of my life and eternity.

The LAST email 12-5-2011

For a lack of better words, it has been so awesome. This week we have worked so hard and so many miracles have happened! We taught Bruce again at a member's home and it went so well and the Spirit was so strong. We testified to him that faith comes through exercising that faith, one principle at a time.He is searching for peace and balance in his life. He doesn't have much direction or light The simple things that we often take for granted in our lives makes the world of difference to those who have been so far distant from the light. It's such a testimony builder for me recognizing that the small, good things I do brightens my light and understanding of our Savior Jesus Christ.

                     ______________________________________

The ward Christmas party... The Jensen family came and that was great. The spirit was strong, the kids had fun and Scott and Sara got to mingle with the members some more. We asked our ward members to fast for them. We have a member each day of the month of December to fast for him. We are seeing Miracles working with this family as the ward has come together to help and strengthen him. He is preparing to be baptized on December 10th , however, he still needs to quit smoking and drinking coffee. He is determined to do so. Scott's main concern is that he feels that he doesn't have enough faith. He wondered if he needed as much faith as all of us in order to be baptized. I love the baptismal interview questions. They are simple and it helps me to recognize that the Lord is not asking a whole lot from us in order to be baptized. They are to see if we do know that the Gospel is true and that we are worthy and willing to keep His commandments and to follow in our Savior's footsteps. This family means so much to me. I love them with everything in my heart.

                         _____________________________________

We also taught Timothy this week. He has such a strong faith in Christ. He bore his testimony on Sunday. When he got up , Sister Alberts and I started to sweet profusely and looking at each other because we weren't quite sure what he was going to say, but I asked Heavenly Father to help him and as soon as he sat down on the stand I felt immediate peace. Sure enough it was amazing! Everyone was talking about it. The first things he said in his testimony was that he has read the Book of Mormon and knows it to be the word of God. He has prayed about it and he felt that he has received an answer. You should have seen my face. I was gleaming. If I could have I would have been jumping up and down and shouting,"hooray" but I kept my cool.

Seriously one of the greatest moments for a missionary is to hear from their investigator,"I know it is true."  He is preparing to be baptized December 17th!

lauren.kimball@myldsmail.net

I just received the LAST LETTER from Sister Kimball as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

How her letters have inspired me and lifted me and encouraged me to try to be better. I am so grateful to have a missionary and I am grateful that she fulfilled her call to serve with honor. WELL DONE. 

Sister Kimball in the protective and encouraging arms of her mission president and his wife, President D. Keith Wilson and Sister Ada Wilson
I ( Lauren's mom and dad) recently received this letter from him,

" The time has come when we will say goodbye to Sister Lauren Kimball as she finishes her faithful service in the Washington Everett Mission. We are thankful for the overall contribution she has made here. We have encouraged her to enjoy every minute in the 'field' and to work hard and have fun in the Lord's service. We have seen her develop a greater testimony of the Lord and love for His children. We pray that your daughter will take the many attributes and skills she has gained here on her mission and build on them for the rest of her life."

Nov. sisters luncheon

        I adMIT it looks like the sisters are having fun!

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Sister Kimball and her former companion,Sister Blackburn

 Sister Kimball and an old companion,Sister Eaton
Pictured below

                              is Sister Kimball and Sister Felt #4

November pictures-District meeting

Beautiful sister missionaries

            { It must be SISTER EXCHANGES }

Nov.28,2011 I am GRATEFUL

• 
  
•  
• I just want to share with you how grateful I am to be a missionary. Words can't express the great love I have for sharing the gospel, to be a representative of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be a part of "His work and His glory to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man." I am grateful for the power of the Atonement and the hope that it brings in my life and all of God's children I am so blessed and so grateful for for a loving Heavenly Father that has sent me into a home where the priesthood presides. I am grateful for His patience with all my weakness. I'm grateful that He trusts in me to do His work.I am grateful that Christ died for me and suffered for me, that I may repent and return to live with God again. I am grateful for His infinite love and mercy.

Sister exchanges on a BIKE!

Oh I can't forget to tell you about my adventure I had on a bike for the day, Yep, I biked in the pouring rain all day on Tuesday.We had sister exchanges so I went to Redmond in the other sister's area ( thy're on bikes) and we rode bikes all around town in the rain. It was awesome ! Once it got dark I lost all feeling in my toes and fingers cuz I don't have rain boots and my gloves are just fabric. Haha, Oh it was fun! I got enough of a workout for the rest of my mission.

November 27,2011

Thank you all for the WONDERFUL birthday wishes ! !

It was a great day!! Probably one of the best birthdays ever! We were so busy all day yesterday, We had Scott Jensen, home from his deep sea fishing trip, he came to Sacrament meeting for the first time on Sunday. We taught Timothy right after church, the plan of salvation and 20 minutes later we had another appointment with Sarah Dugan. We were able to help her and to teach her. Just after that we had dinner with the Price Family( Morgan is getting baptized on December 10th at 10a.m. Afterwards our ward mission leader told my companion and I that we needed to come over to his house for a meeting with the high councilmen regarding missionary work 10a.m.)...we showed up late but as we walked in[ SURPRISE] it was a surprise birthday party! They all sang " happy birthday" and then I got a call from President and Sister wilson and they also sang happy birthday to me. It was a GREAT day! The whole time I was thinking , could this be a more perfect birthday? I could not of thought of my day being any better on the mission-teaching all day. It truly does bring the greatest joy!!! 

Sister Kimball and Sister Alberts take to the road.

Missionaries are always on the go. The Lord's work keeps 'em busy!

Remember Sisters your MILES ARE LIMITED ! Ha !

Thanksgiving holidays Nov. 28,2011

Sister Kimball  is getting ready for
                         THANKSGIVING DAY!

The first 4 days with it being the Thanksgiving holidays were rough days as to missionary work. No one really wanted to see us or wanted to spend much time with us, however, on Thanksgiving everything fell into place. It has been one of our best weeks this transfer. We were able to see Scott Jensen finally after he returned home. He is working 7 days a week which is very uncommon for this line of work, usually once they come home they don't work at all, but he'll be working until he leaves again in January.He's really frustrated. It is going to be a bit of a challenge to teach him but he'll make it happen. He wants to get baptized and feel a lot more rooted in the gospel and into the ward before he leaves. He'll be baptized hopefully, December 10th, but we are helping him to overcome his tabacco addiction. He gave us his chewing tabacco { don't worry we threw it away }! He loves church and he understands the importance of it. His faith is growing so much! He loves to pray.Their little boy is 5 years old and takes charge to say family prayer. How neat is that! They never prayed together before and now they are! How wonderful that is!
President Monson has said," A family that prays together stays together." That is exactly what Scott wants more than anything in life.

Work is getting in the way a lot. It's hard to tell him to quite his job because he knows it is affecting his family a lot and he really needs to go to a different company but you know that in these economic times it's just to hard. But we are excited to begin teaching him again.

 ...Thanksgiving Day... Our Thanksgiving was spectacular!
We woke up and went on our 5k run with our ward. A member in our ward set up a course to run and had signs and maps for us to follow. It was so much fun except Sister Alberts can't run so I ran without her. It was weird but I had a running buddy. I don't know how I will do without someone at my side all the time. Hmmm, maybe I'll love it. haha After that we played racquetball with the elders

And one of the elders hit the ball with all his might right into my arm. I had a huge welt for a while. haha

Then.........

we had dinner at our stake president's home with all the missionaries in our stake. It was a ton of fun! Afterwards we played clue. ( we were allowed to play as long as it was p-day and at a member's home)

The 1st 24 hour exchange

This week we went on 24 hour exchanges with other sisters closest to us. That was a lot of fun! During our exchange we had a great lesson with Sarah Dugan, our investigator. We went to a member's house and (Sarah's) 4 kids played with the other kids. We had the entire house to ourselves to teach her. The spirit was strong, there were no distractions and we were able to teach a full lesson without any interruptions whatsoever and we were able to answer her questions. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She had a lot of questions and also her kids about life after death. (Sarah) was never able to answer them before. They have had a lot of people die in their family in the last couple of weeks. She told us that a few days after the lesson that one of her girls asked again about life after death. Then (Sarah) asked her daughter what she thought about families being together forever. Her daughter responded with,"Yeah, I really like that ,Mom" She was now able to answer her child's questions. Cool, huh?

There are so many people who are looking for TRUTH. People want to have that assurance that they will see their family again. That God loves them and knows them. So many want to believe this but they just don't know where to find it. We are here to help them find again what they once knew before they came to earth. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth through a prophet,the keys of the kingdom are once again on the earth and we can be baptized, have our families together forever through the proper authority of God. It's all made possible through our Savior, Jesus Christ. He lives! I know He does! We need to develop faith and trust in Him. We do so by starting with the small and simple things -reading the scriptures, prayer-Oh, you all know this. Well, I love you. I hope you have a wonderful week! We sure will. We are working hard and we are seeing miracles everyday! This is the Lord's work. We are on His errand. We must be diligent and faithful!

Beautiful Washington in October 2011

" Therefore, gird up thy loins for this work. Let thy feet be shod also, for thou art chosen, and thy path lieth among the mountains, and among many nations." Doctrine and Covenants 111:7

WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST

Elder Neil L. Anderson came to our mission. The whole mission gathered together. We had our mission president and his wife there, Elder L. Whitney Clayton
(presidency of the Seventies), Bishop Edgely (presiding bishopric) and Elder Merrell (of the Seventies). It was a remarkable meeting. Elder Anderson spoke to us briefly, he's funny. Then it was open for questions and answers and we got to ask questions and we heard from all the men in response to our questions. After that, Elder Anderson spoke to us for 30 minutes. His main message was instructing
us to ponder the question," What think ye of Christ"
He said that now is the time for us to have our testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, be deeply rooted in us. (He continued) It's not nearly enough for us to have a testimony, we need to be converted. and that the mission is the time to become converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that conversion is a process, it will take a lifetime. He asked, "Where will your knowledge and faith be 20,40,60 years from now? We continually need to be thinking, pondering. and praying to strengthen our faith in Christ. He promised that as we do so, the things we believe in will become perfect knowledge. It won't be merely "faith" anymore. He left us with such a firm, powerful testimony of his love for our Savior, Jesus Christ and that He does live. We will see Him face to face one day. He is our Savior, and Lord and Redeemer. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I've been really pondering that question.
" what think ye of Christ ". He told us to put it up where we will see it each and every day.
...here comes the funny part...after he spoke we sang a song just before I was suppose to give the closing prayer, as the song was coming to an end, I started to walk up to the stand, I almost blacked out. Ha ha, no joke. I totally teetered over to the side. I was soooo nervous. I don't think I've ever been so nervous with anything else in my entire life. I got extremely light headed. Ha ha, oh goodness!! Thankfully I was able to sit down for a brief second before the song ended. I was praying the entire time in my head. As I walked to the pulpit it felt like the longest walk of my life. You probably think I'm exaggerating, huh? I know,pathetic! Why I was so nervous I don't know. I was just giving the closing prayer in front of my entire mission, Elder Neil L. Anderson, and a bunch of general authorities; no big deal. Well, I made it through the prayer, it actually went really well besides my voice trembling here and there.

Remember the moments that make up the memories

Our mission district

            A time to prepare...

" Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; ...For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
                                             Matthew 11:29-30

Sister Alberts and I are staying-right here

   Sister Kimball's just zippin along...
                    watch an see

I'm so excited that Sister Alberts and I are both staying. I'm excited for the miracles this transfer. We are getting a ton better! It's like night and day from the beginning and we are finally getting to know our ward members and the area. We are teaching a lot, so many miracles! I know President Wilson was difinitely inspired by God to have us stay. I believe both of us are needed here. I sure wanted to stay. I like it here, however, I am getting teased like crazy about the time I have left on my mission but no worries I keep smiling and I don't focus on it.