August 2, 2010

Hey ALL:

I am writing this in the car on our way to play frisbee golf with the elders. It is a less interactive sport, because before we were playing soccer, and I got taken out a couple of times, and I took out a couple of elders as well. It got a little out of hand.
This week I've been really trying to do my very best in recognizing the Spirit. After that
one experience I shared with you, I've been praying, studying, and doing my best to be able to recognize the promptings of the Spirit, and what I need to say and do in the very hour I need it.
Because lately we'll go to a door and my mind is just completely blank! I say a prayer every time and the Spirit feeds my mind with things to say.
Recently, on fast Sunday, I prayed and fasted for a few things, but the one I'll share with you is for me to have more charity and love. It was a neat experience as I prayed Sunday morning asking Heavenly Father what I should fast for---I felt one thing, and I asked is this who you want me to fast for?? I felt right about it. Then I asked is there anything or anyone else you want me to pray for/about? I did this process until I felt I had what He wanted me to fast for. It was a neat experience because it was my first time praying and asking who/what I should fast for! I don't know all but the Lord does, and He knows who needs help the most right now and what I need the most of right now. So, one of the things that impressed my mind I should fast for is for me to have charity and love.
In sacrament meeting in the ward @ 9 AM, since I go to two sacraments (the branch @ 1 PM), I was sitting and thinking as the sacrament was being passed...my mind wandered. For a moment, and then I got back to thinking of our Savior, the moment I did that ...my heart and my whole body came over with a warm feeling, and I felt the love God has for His children. I just felt the overwhelming feeling come into my heart. I felt the love that God has for His children. It was so powerful. It just consumed my whole heart and soul! God really does love us and know us! The only way I know and felt this to be true is by the power of the Holy Ghost. Feelings I felt were so strong that I cannot deny! I know Christ lives, I know He knows me and His children, my brothers and sisters! He is just so happy and He rejoices when we come back, when we repent and do the best we can. I saw what people sacrifice to be there, and I rejoiced and He rejoices. It was an amazing experience! I felt the Spirit consume my whole body and soul to bear witness of what I just felt with the ward. So, I got up in fast and testimony meeting and shared with them how much God loves them. Once I said the words, I started to cry(I'm not a crier) because the pure love of Christ filled my heart and soul. I saw all His children as He sees them!
He answered my plea and cry. I've been praying and wanting to have complete love and charity for all His children since I got here. But it has not been the easiest thing for me. He has put some interesting people in my pathway that has been very difficult to have the pure love of Christ. I fasted for charity and having the pure love of Christ (Moroni 7). He allowed the Holy Ghost to testify to me and had me feel just a portion of the perfect love He has for us. It's beyond my mortal comprehension the love He truly has for us.
It was a miraculous experience that words just can't do justice! The Lord blessed me and answered my fast and prayers. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I love my Savior Jesus Christ. He is the only one who is our Savior, Redeemer, the only Begotten Son of God. I love my God, my Heavenly Father and the wonderful gift of the power of the Holy Ghost.
Time is so limited to do anything. We both have an hour to get ready, so who takes a shower first has more time, and then we have an hour of personal study. I love personal study time. I want to be done getting ready exactly by 8 AM so I can study. At 9 AM, we have companion study.
Today (Aug. 3) I read the talks "Love and Law"(Elder Oaks) and Elder Hale's talk on "Seeking to know God, our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ." G.C. Nov. 2009.
I want to share with all of you what I loved about Elder Hale's talk. I love this talk because it relates to everyone, especially our investigators right now and potentials...He said "if you or someone you love is seeking purpose in life or a deeper conviction of God's presence in our lives, I offer as a friend and as an apostle, my witness. He lives!" "I testify that the way to know the truth about God is through the power of the Holy Ghost."
Remember who you are and who and what you stand for.

Sister Lauren Kimball

Continued-letter dated July 23,2010

" The whole time I was pleading for help to know what to do...the thought kept coming to me that she should be baptized. I knew the thought was not from me because my will was to wait. The Lord answered our cries and we both now felt that she should be baptized. The Lord's will is for her to be baptized... Those investigators don't need a perfect knowledge or a complete testimony to be baptized, it just needs to be right for them and the Lord's will. It is also about their desire to repent and be baptized and upon their belief that this Church is true. It was a very humbling experiance. It was the first time I truly felt as explained in Alma 26:12-13 and Helaman 12:17. God really does hear and answer our prayers, not right away but after the trial of our faith. When we truly have real intent to do the Lord's will. Because it was my will at first and when I really submitted my will to the Lord's will, He answered me...This work is hard and very demanding, but the Lord blesses us each and everyday. He gives us peace and comfort and guidance and strength. As explained in Alma 26:12 in the Book of Mormon, I am weak but with the Lord I am strong. " I boast not in myself but of my God!" It took me all day to realize what the Lord truly wanted to happen. My companion wanted me to find out on my own. She wanted the decision to be a companionship decision. She is awesome. I love Sister Dewitt. We love each other as sisters. She was telling me that she looks up to me and I'm a great missionary and that she wanted me to know that I have what it takes. I just sat crying and thinking that I'm not any of those things.The scripture that came into my head,"I am nothing, I am weak..I am as the dust of the earth." The things I do and who I am is not because of me. I am nothing as Ammon says, but I give all the good things I am and do to my God. I am not a great missionary of myself. It is because of our Savior and Redeemer that I am who I am. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ,the Son of God. (3Nephi5:13) And I am happy and I rejoice because of Him. Read President Uchtdorfs talk."Have We Not Reason to Rejoice"ensign Nov. 07 It's awesome and I have been studying that talk. That's my spiritual experiance of the week. A funny experiance-I totally tripped in the middle of the street. My ankles are so weak right now that I just randomly trip. One second I'm just walking and the next I'm on the ground. We just laugh and laugh! We're having fun!

1st Baptism and lesson learned about feeling the spirit

Letter from Lauren dated July 23,2010:

It's not easy being out here but at the same time ,I love it! The Lord blesses me each and everyday. He gives me strength and great JOY!! Ther really is no greater joy and happiness than sharing the gospel and seeing people change their lives. I had my 1st baptism on Saturday! It was way cool! It was the miracle that I spoke of in my last letter. Life is beautiful!! The baptism was wonderful!

This week has been a weird one. I mentioned in my last letter about an investigator named Shannon. Well she is crazy. Seriously, this week we have gone back and forth with her about being baptized this Saturday. She changes her mind from one day to the next. Anyway, It was up to Sister Dewitt and I whether she should be baptized this Sat. and our Branch Preident and our Mission President both had their reservations and so do we, but shes worthy and wants to be baptized. As we pondered and prayed throughout the day , Sister Dewitt felt she should but I didn't. My companion was frustrated with the whole situation and I didn't know what to do. I've never had a situation like this before and it being the first entire experiance of teaching and baptizing. I felt the weight of Shannon's eternal salvation on my shoulders and so did Sister dewitt. She wanted me to decide what to do and I didn't know. I just cried to the Lord,seeking to know what to do. I felt worthless and of no help because all I could say was why I felt she probably shouldn't be baptized right now. During this time we were driving to an appointment which we canceled because of all that had happened. She took me to one of the seven lakes in this city and we just sat outside

July 9, 2010

So, business first: one of my favorite scriptures and plaque scripture is Alma 29:9. (A plaque with Lauren's picture along with her favorite scripture will hang on the wall at our chapel until she returns home).
I found my tape recorder. Wahoo! :-) I put it in a very special place, and sure enough, I forgot where that was. Anyways, right now in Washington it is very hot, very hot and sunny. It is like being back home in Temecula. So, all my summer clothes are coming in handy except I don't have that many.
So, missionary work is going awesome, except we are struggling with finding new investigators. We had an investigator drop us. We went to his door, and as we were walking toward his door, we saw him run and hide in his backyard. We knocked on the door, and his roommate answered and said that he just left and a friend just picked him up. Then, we called him out and said "really, because we just saw him run in the backyard." It was kind of funny and sad at the same time. I just wish people were more straight up with us; honest and didn't lie. I just don't get it.
But, we just taught a twenty-five year old girl who has four kids. She is awesome. We have a lot of fun with her. She is to be baptized Aug. 1 st. She has a great amount of faith except she doesn't or is having a hard time reading the Book of Mormon. We taught her today lesson 2, the plan of salvation. Every time I teach it I'm amazed how much our Father in Heaven loves us. I learn something new each and every time. My testimony grows more and more when we present the plan by the Spirit. So far, everyone has said that makes sense. The three degrees of glory is what gets people to rethink because it is so different than what they have ever heard. The only thing they can do is pray about if it is true.
I think my next favorite lesson to teach is the restoration. The restoration video gets me every time. Tears just run down my face. The Spirit is so strong when we have the investigators watch it. I have a strong testimony that Joseph Smith at the young age of 14 saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I have memorized the First Vision and just love it. What a miraculous experience, and I can only imagine the great amount of faith it took for Joseph Smith.
Anyways, so at first I didn't think that missionary work was all that hard. I didn't think that it was as hard as everyone said....ha, ha, ha, just kidding. Oh, my gosh, it is so hard and challenging, but it is worth it when we finally sit down with an investigator and discuss and teach the lesson and I bear my testimony of the truth of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth again. Oh, how glorious....go to D&C 18:15-16. Oh, I am using my new quad scriptures like crazy. They're going to be so marked up by the time I get home.
So, I got your letters Mom and Dad and all the pictures. Wow, you guys had a great time. I've been wanting to do those things for years and now you finally do them when I'm gone. Yep, cool beans! I'm glad you finally really enjoyed yourselves by going hiking, renting Seedos on the lake, or whatever...so fun!!
Thanks, Dad, for giving me the detailed info about your week...not jealous at all! Grrrr...:-) J/K
I finally got the package you sent Mom--yummy. Thank you so much.
My companion puts up pictures of all her family and friends on the walls, and I just put mine in the scrap book you made Mom because I am so worried about getting homesick. I am so determined not to; I don't want it to affect my work here. So, I'll still look, but I don't need a constant reminder/thought of you guys cuz I miss you all so much already and don't need to be homesick. But, please keep sending pictures. I love them lots. I don't have many pictures of Eric and Amber or my kitties--- if you haven't killed them yet, or they haven't died from the heat. I know Dad takes good care of them and Mom cleans the litter box. Ha, ha. I don't get it but thanks Mom. Maybe it is because you dealt with many dirty diapers in the past. Yuck! I know that one day it will be me.
The key to missionary work is love. Without it, you'll have no success in teaching. Having charity and love invites the Spirit into your heart and you are able to discern their needs and teach accordingly. It is amazing how much I understand what these people are going through even though I've never gone through some of their extreme experiences and situations, but it is awesome to be able to feel for them and find some way you can relate.
Right now, we have almost everyone we make an appointment with fall through. They aren't home; some call to reschedule, and then they aren't there at the time they rescheduled. Why, or why do people do that? We aren't scary, or are we? We just want to talk. We are not going to condemn them. Ha, ha. Everyone thinks we are or something. We are here to serve which people won't even let us do. It is a frustrating time. However, it is still awesome, and we are doing well. Some people are receptive. The field is white already to harvest. I love you so much. Miss you all. Keep up the great work. Open your mouths and pray for opportunities to share the gospel and then look for them.
Dad, thanks for typing my letters. I know that they are lengthy (no kidding! Dad K).
Lauren wrote more on the envelope: OK, so the biggest miracle just happened...in my letter I talked about how frustrating the past two ?days, weeks, I don' t know, have been. We've been working hard, being as obedient as we can and wanting and seeking for new investigators today...doblahdah :-) He has been trying our faith. We just got a phone call from a lady in our ward. She said her parents want to be baptized ASAP. We have been praying and praying for the past two weeks for new investigators. Our prayers have been answered. We never gave up! we had a goal of this week to find three new investigators and we got two today. The Lord is always preparing people, prayers are truly answered. Ether 12:6 No witness until after the trial of our faith. I love missionary work. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It truly brings eternal happiness.
The church is true. Go and serve someone today.

Just Arrived....pictures from Lauren

Most of these are pictures during her stay at the MTC.

It is a tradition at the Misssionary Training Center or MTC to stand in front of the wall map and point to the country and place in which you will be serving. There are missions literally all over the world.

Letter from Lauren : Dear Mom & Dad & family & friends, It sounds like you had a great time up in Tahoe,except you haven't given me alot of details. I hear I have a package but my Zone leaders have not gone to the mission home to get it. I received everyones' letters--Erin,Savannah,Will and Coles'. (happy face)I'm in a new place. It's an apartment above a members garage. It's nice but we don't like being seperate from the members so much. We liked living with the members so we can use some of their things. However, it is also nice that we won't be bothered by the members so much. The lady we were living with before was a little weird but nice. She would wake us up in the middle of the night to give us a letter we missed or to make sure we were ok. Ahhhh Oh well! Our place now has bunk beds and i'm on the top. Whoohoo! Not! We have a porch which is nice. It looks over their hugh yard and humongous trees! Seriously, the trees here are huge!

How was your 4th of July? I can't wait to hear. Ours' was alot of fun!! Except we had none of our investigators come to Church but 2 of them. Ahhh it was So frustrating and sad! They promised they would be there and they weren't. We even went to their houses to wake them up. We rang and knocked on their doors a couple of times. But on the plus side,we had a bunch of inactives from the Branch come to Church. We say reactivation is better than a baptism. Okay, now for the 4th of July stuff. So fireworks are a huge thing here. They can buy the BIG STUFF. Everything is pretty much legal here! It's sweet! So the members that we are staying with put on a big fireworks preshow on Saturday. It was awesome!!! It was huge like the ones we see from our backyards and we were super close so of course it was loud. Sunday we went over to our Branch Presidents' home for dinner and lit offsome fireworks. We had to be in by 8:30 which is late normally for the 4th of July. I guess our new Mission President doesn't know that missionaries should probably be in by 6:30 p.m. People here in Wa. are crazy especially with fireworks.There were loud booms and pops everywhere you were last night. As the night went onon it would get louder and louder. We felt as if it was a war going on. Hugh ones! No joke. At 10 p.m. my comp(companion herein will be referred to as comp.) and I walked out to the hill near our house and watched all the millions of fireworks going off. Huge ones! We couldn't see alot of them because the trees were so tall, but the lights in the sky would flash up everywhere. I have some fun pictures to show you but you probably won't get them until next week. Lets see, last week was not a very good week missionary wise. We didn't find any new investigators. Alot of our appointments were canceled and just people flaking out. grrrr... But this week we have set alot of goals to help us findnew people and ways we can get the members more involved. It's the members that need to find, not us! We need to do more of the teaching according to Elder Ballard! It's really cool what our mission has set up to get members involved. Elder Ballard said to members that if they set a date to find someone that wants to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, he will put someone in your path by that date. So far the new mission president is nice & cool. He's definately different than our last mission president. He'll do a great job! Our elders in our district are crazy! They are pretty disobedient and they wonder why their members are always zero! We do have one Elder who is pretty obedient and they have ok numbers. I have such a testimony of how obedience truly brings success and more abundance of the Spirit with you. It's very evident in the mission. However, you do see disobedient missionaries baptize people... Anyways I'm having fun. There are some tough tiring moments though. People here are not receptive much at all. Howerver, there are some who are. (smily) We get doors slammed in our faces all the time. Nobody even wants to hear what we have to say. Actually, we are having a harder time finding new investigators in the Branch ,but we are seeking and we are wanting to know who they are.It is usually those who have had a really rough life and who have not been happy at all. Those we teach are those who need to change the most. I'm learning ASL(american sign language). It's really cool! It's hard for me to pick it up,but I know a few things. My name is pretty cool in ASL. Anyways I don't know what else to say except that I miss you all tons! I love you mom & dad! How are the kitties? There are so many cats here. I just cling to them. Then I am covered in dog & cat fur. It's so gross! I'm so glad we don't have indoor animals.Yuck!(unless they don't shed) I'm sorry my letters are so boring. Oh wait, just kidding! We have one new investigator this week. I totally forgot. His name is George and he is 18 yrs old. He has been in & out of prison since he was 10. He wants to chage so much. He believes! We are excited to teach him. Love you guys so much. Thanks for all you do for me. Love, Sister Kimball

MTC

Ok This is out of order but I am working out the bugs as a new blogger. I think this says it all.
" It's my kind of mission! This is the mission for me! This is truly where the Lord wants me to serve!"

Letter from Mission President

Dear Brother and Sister Kimball,

We are happy to inform you that your missionary has safely arrived in the mission field. We thought you would enjoy this photo taken with us soon after her arrival.

We appreciate these young people and their families who are willing to make the needed sacrifice to help this important work move forward. A mission can be difficult and challenging at times but the rewards are wonderful. Our missionaries need all the support they can get and we encourage you to write uplifting and supportive letters each week. Our Church leaders have given the missionaries permission to call home on Mother's Day and Christmas. Personal calls home at any other time are not authorized. If in an emergency arises, please call the mission home.

We are looking forward to our association with Sister Kimball in the service of the Lord. We will have a personal visit with her every four to six weeks.. Our missionaries also write a personal report to us once a week. We will come to know your daughter quite intimately and will be greatly interested in her welfare and spiritual growth.

May the Lord continue to bless your home and your family as Sister Kimball serves in this wonderful work. Sincerly, President and Sister Showalter

June 28,2010

Let's see, alot has happened...right now we have 3 investigators with baptismal dates in the month of July. We have only 2 progressing investigators which means they go to church and have been taught two or more lessons. It has been a great week. We are working very hard and have a lot of faith! With that faith, the Lord is blessing us to help and to find those who are ready and prepared to hear the gospel. We have met this one couple that is on meth, getting kicked out of their home, and the husband has just left out of their lives. One of our investigators, Shana, is not married but has been living with her boyfriend for 14 years. Her boyfriend is abusive, both physically and mentally. Shana wants to leave him, but he threatens her, and she is very scared. It is a horrible situation. He is very controlling. Anyway, she is an amazing woman who has been prepared to hear the gospel and join the church. However, Satan is working on her and everyone of our investigators like crazy.
It is very sad some of the situations I run into each and everyday. Most are depressed, no direction in life, and fearful. But, at the same time, they don't want to hear the gospel and learn how to better their lives. Another hard thing is to see recent converts fall away right away. They are baptized and then stop coming to church. The more awesome thing is to see those people who are trying to live the best life they can and pray to God for help even when they don't have the gospel. I love sitting and teaching them the joy and happiness that comes from doing God's will. What's even more amazing is these people willing to change all their old habits to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is pretty awesome.
We are teaching this nineteen year old named Shannon, and it is really hard for me to really love her. She is just weird, bipolar, and I've been struggling. I'm trying. The last lesson we taught her went Okay. The Spirit wasn't with me because she really bugs me. It is amazing what small things we do that offend the Spirit that disqualify us for His complete influence and direction.The Spirit is so strong as we are obedient and faithful, and we recognize His subtle promptings.
My companion and I are becoming such great friends. We are teaching so much more in unity as our friendship developed and as we exercised greater amounts of faith. We just have so much fun together. We laugh all the time. I love missionary work so much. It is truly such a blessing and privilege to be an instrument in the Lord's hand, that He trusts me enough to teach and help our Father's children come unto Him.
We get a new mission president Thursday. We will see what changes, hopefully email. Everyone hates not having it. The mail here takes forever too! They are some sketchy mailmen too. LOL
We move to our own little apartment on Wed. It is above a member's garage, supposedly it is really nice. :-) But, I really like living in a home because we can mooch off the members. :-) They don't care either. We have been having really good dinners lately. Last night, we had yummy soup and rolls. It reminds me of you, Mom. I love home cooked meals. It reminds me of home each and every time. It is crazy the things that remind me of home and family and friends. Did I tell you that everyone has dogs and cats? I mean like everyone. I come home from the day, and my skirt has literally a layer of dog fur on it. Gross! I like dogs but not when they smell, drool, and shed like crazy. HaHa, that's like every dog.
It is crazy the kind of excuses we get from people as to why they won't attend church or why they won't see us. It is annoying. Can't they just tell us they aren't interested and for us to leave them alone. Oh, another fav. is when we know people are home and they refuse to answer the door. Haha. Classic.
So, Mom and Dad(especially Dad) tell me about your conversion story. What did the sisters teach you? What did you have a hard time believing? Mom, what made you finally feel completely converted?
There are a lot of baptisms and very few conversions. They focus a lot on numbers(baptisms) here in Washington. We don't like it.
It is good to have goals and numbers, but it is very intense. I feel like maybe it is like that in other missions. I am not sure.
We have a goal as a mission to baptize 1000 people by the end of the year! Crazy,but definitely, hopefully, possible.
The problem is most new converts are falling away and aren't coming to church or aren't trying to meet with us. Satan is working on all of them and trying to distract them from what is really important.
Oh, I have been asked to give a talk on July 11, 2010, haha because I am new or something. But my companion has been out for nine months, and she has not given a talk yet! Grrrr.....Oh, well.
So, I'll be sending you my new address next monday so you don't have to keep mailing everything to the office even though it may be safer because I can be transferred at the end of July. So giving you my address and you send it there, and I'm not there will be no bueno.
So, I either lost or someone stole or I left my tape recorder at the MTC (which I doubt), but I can't find it anywhere. So, I will probably buy another one next week so that I can send another tape. I also printed out pictures today on a CD. I hope to be able to send those today or maybe tomorrow.
Mom, thanks for the notes on Sean's talk. That was way cool. I just got that this past week. I am glad he is doing well. Does he still seem like the old Sean? Does he still look skinny? Has he grown up a lot? More details, please. :-) Keep me updated with Amber. I am glad she is doing better.
Dad, write the date or type it, whatever, in the letter so I know when you wrote it.
Anyway, I'm loving Washington. The sun is out, and it has been warm, not hot. It is beautiful. The trees are huge, and there are forests or groves of trees everywhere. It is very peaceful and beautiful. The wards are great and very supportive of missionary work. I hope Lake Tahoe was fun. Jake said that it was. I got his letter the other day. I love you so much! Sister Kimball
P.S. What are your plans in July?
P.S.S. I have a challenge for you all---to pray for missionary eyes. Pray for a couple of individuals who may be interested in hearing the gospel. Now take the answer to your prayers and that faith and teach them/mention the church to them.
I promise you the Lord will bless you for your efforts and guide you to those He has prepared. I may be a full time missionary, but we all are missionaries!

Sister Kimball

Letter dated June 28,2010

My 2nd week here,2nd pday! Awe It's crazy how time flies by.