27 August 2012 - La Cantera, Coquimbo

¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

I literally have no time today, so this will be concise. We´ll start off by pointing out one of those fun, small-Mormon-world connections we all love. Ok, my companion, Elder Tonks, was on an interchange with one of the elders in our zone, Elder Powner. Elder Powner (and also Elder Boss, who also is in our zone) is just barely starting his mission and both were in the MTC zone with Tiffanie and met her and everything. So Elder Powner was talking to Elder Tonks about how he met my sister, and then Elder Tonks found out that her companion's name was Hermana Word, so he asked if Elder Powner knew where Hermana Word was from, which he thought was Las Vegas, which is where Elder Tonks is from. So, if this Hermana Word is the same Katie Word that Elder Tonks knows, they are from the same stake in Las Vegas. I think I may have made that explanation longer than necessary, which is funny because I don't have like any time right now. That reminds me a lot of the Chileans, who are slowly rubbing off on me, because it literally happens all the time that you talk to someone in their doorway and they tell you right off the bat, "I'm way too busy, I have no time for anything, and my life is way too occupied right now for even 3 seconds of hearing what you have to say," and then they commence talking to you about random nonsense for the next 15 minutes, and the whole time you think to yourself, "weren't you busy?" They have this incredible ability to talk, and they don't even realize that they talk so much just because it's what they're used to. One time I asked one of these cases, after 10 minutes of him talking to us, "I thought you didn't have time for anything, would you like to keep talking here in the doorway or is it ok if we just come in and talk over a glass of juice?" It didn't work.

Anyways, what I want to say is that we're working our heineys off. I don't remember how to spell that. I remember going with Daniel Burnett to Chris Bowler's missionary setting apart, and we heard Chris' stake president say something on the lines of, "you're going to be tired on your mission. Your goal should be to work so hard that you get home more tired than the day before." That's a very real goal. Elder Tonks and I talked to about a bajillion people in between different appointments or in the taxi rides or going to and from...everywhere. We are always on the move. I've never felt such a sense of urgency in my life before, as if every half-second counts for an eternity, which it does in a very real sense. What we do with our half-seconds affects eternities of generations of those around us. I think to myself on the way home after a beat-tired day as we pass a man going the other direction, "what if he's the one God has been preparing to receive the message of the restoration RIGHT NOW? What if I worked hard all day long today, didn't really see much success with my temporal eyes, and then let this man walk right past me and therefore the very blessing that God offers up for obedience and diligence and perseverance?" That's when we double-take, say, "hey, wait!" talk to the guy, find out he's not interested, and then go at it again the next day, with faith and hope that one of those times will be the legendary missionary story where the man turns out to have been wondering that very question in his mind as he was walking and then leads us to his family of 15, all above the age of 8.

Anyways, I love you all. I love you all so much.

Love, Elder Kimball