¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!
I'm really excited to hear how Tiffanie is doing in the MTC! Having already been there for an entire weekend, I'm almost certain that she's probably fluent in Spanish by now. I remember teaching a lesson to a pretend investigator only being allowed to use Spanish on the Friday when I arrived, only 2 days in, and I think she would have had to do the same.
A great big shoutout to my PIC, Happy Birthday Michael!! How old are you now, 40? For your birthday, I'm giving you the chance to write me a letter to tell me all about it! Remember when you turned 13, and I totally blew the Dave and Buster's surprise party? Hahaha, good times.
In other news, did the robotics team go to nationals, already? That's supposed to happen in April, right? How did they do?
The Villa Alemana zone changed up just a tad, and one of the missionaries that came to the zone is my old district-mate from the MTC, Elder Maxwell! He's the one who was on the legendary robotics team 67 from Detroit, MI. He's even in my district, so we'll be doing interchanges a couple of times together this change.
Last week, the father of one of our ward members died of old age, and we went to his funeral on Saturday morning. It was a big trip, because they live out in La Dormida, which is a 30 minute bus ride into the country. (The funny thing is that our ward stretches another 45 minutes into the distance, so that's all part of our area that we work in.) It took us almost 2 hours to arrive at the funeral, though, because the bus never showed up, and we took a different bus that only went two thirds of the way, and then hiked the rest of the way. We still arrived for the funeral, though, although we missed a good chunk of the service. We climbed up the hillside where the service was and watched down on the burial. La Dormida is a small country town out there, so everybody from the town showed up, too, because they all know each other. It was pretty packed with people. As we were on our way out after the service, the son of the deceased came up to us and gave us a huge hug and thanked us so much for coming. He told us that as he was mourning for his father, he looked up and saw us standing on the hill, and he remembered that Christ overcame the grave and made possible the resurrection of all humanity. He was filled with hope and didn't even feel despair any longer. Such is the redemptive power of the Atonement, which is at the center of every single thing we teach and know. I'm so grateful for the chance to bring others to realize that power acting in their own lives daily, while at the same time feel Him act in my life daily.
On Friday night as we were walking down a street known for being loaded with drug trading and other shenanigans (wait, pause, this isn't a getting-mugged story, don't worry) we passed a house with a light on in the front room, and decided to stop and knock the door. The young man who answered immediately invited us in and told us that he was ready to change his life around because he and his younger brother had done enough harm to their mother. He, Enzo, and his brother, Elvis, are 22 and 19 years old and have made a lot of bad decisions in their life that have led them to prison and other heartaches. Their mother comes to tears every time she even speaks with them, and Enzo told us that every time he tries to fix his life up and do the right things, something comes up to stop him from doing so. We opened the Bible with him to where Christ tells the parable of the prodigal son, and the room was filled with a familiar Spirit that testifies to each of us that we are not only in our efforts to come unto Christ. We are children of a loving Heavenly Father who will run to us to help us overcome the world. If only Enzo and Elvis could capture a glimpse of the potential that Christ sees in them, they would do everything in their power to leave hurt and addictions behind. It is my grand prvilege to believe in them and help them in their path to reach that potential, in this life and the life to come. I love you all!
Love, Elder Kimball
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