¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos!
I always think it's funny when people think preparation day is like our "day off." So untrue, we're always so busy it's ridiculous, and you always have this paranoid feeling that the clock is ticking against you, and you get annoyed by the little things that take away 30 seconds of your time, because if you're not careful, the day's gone before you can even write the family. Like today! We went to a recent converts house to eat lunch with them because they never get to the lunch calendar in time to sign up, and they always wanted to give us lunch, so they asked us if they could give it to us today, so we agreed, but it just means we don't get time to do basically anything. They are so nice and it was way worth it, because we love them so much. His name is Dennis and her name is Carolina, and they're a young couple with a one year old daughter.
People, it is September. Do you know what this means? It means we're one month away from October!! Do we know what that means? GENERAL CONFERENCE. Last April, we only managed to get one person to see it, although it was a miracle, but this time Satan isn't going to have such an easy time with us. We are literally marking people's calendars already. It's going to be a fantastic weekend and I just get giddy every time I think about it.
Last week President Kâhnlein came and spent the day with Elder Tonks and me in Coquimbo, but we kind of got majorly robbed, because he only ended up proselyting with us for about an hour and a half, total bummer. Here's what happened: he arrived at our pension at 6:30am and did exercises and everything with us, then we had our zone class, then lunch, and then we had a knockout killer day set up. So we start it. We're totally stoked because we've been having trouble getting a couple investigator families married, so we were excited to see what the mission president could bring to the conversation. We were able to go teach one person, then we go to the next appointment with one of the said families and start the lesson. The investigator, Fabiola, had read from 1 Nephi 8-12 the day before, so we discussed it and answered questions, and right when we were about to start the law of chastity talk, the President excuses himself because he had to get up to La Serena to change their rental car and he was going to be late! It was only 4:45, and we had 3 more appointments we wanted him to be in with us, but that's all we got from him. Nonetheless, it was a great opportunity, and it gave the chance for Elder Tonks and I to continue following and relying on the Spirit to know how to guide these investigators to a higher plane of living.
A quick story before I close. A couple weeks ago, we talked with this guy named Cristian outside of his house, but his name is waaaay off. Total atheist, believed in scary things. He thought we were from the CIA and that the steeples on our church buildings were to communicate with our superiors. So we set up a return visit. We came back the next week and sat down with him and asked questions, explained what we do, taught him only a little, and mostly just tried to figure out why he would have let us in in the first place, since he professes himself atheist. Then he got a little interested in the story of the Book of Mormon, but swore he wouldn't pray to know if it's true because he didn't believe in God. I told him I was scientific, too, and that he could do the experiment to see if God would answer a direct question. He still said no way, but we left the book and left. So we literally nicknamed this guy Korihor. A few times during the week we asked each other, "hmm, should we go to Korihor?" "Nah, no time, maybe tomorrow." Friday. We have like 15 minutes, so we knock his door to see if he had read or not, and he answers and invites us in. His dad, Jorge, is also there. We start explaining what our real purpose is as missionaries and then we ask to sing a song and say a prayer, to which Korihor concedes rather halfway enthusiastically. I start thinking, "what?" We continue. We ask them inspired questions, and learn they've always felt bad vibes in their house ever since they've moved there, and then we learn of some family problems within them, and we begin to share scripture regarding the Holy Ghost and what he can do for us after baptism. Korihor is attentive to everything. We read Mosiah 18:10, and I repeat the question found within it to him, "What could stop you from being baptized?" He stops and thinks..."oneself." We ask more questions, bare testimony, promise blessings, and then invite him to be baptized. Immediately, his dad starts laughing and going off about how his son's an atheist and there's no point. Korihor looks us in the eyes and says "yes." Jorge is stunned, and then begins openly mocking his son and rambling for 2 minutes, but none of us hear a word he says because we're all maintaining direct eye contact and the Spirit is so intense and we bear more testimony and extend the baptismal date, to which he accepts. He then tells us that he read from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and felt something within him that he never had felt before, and then he decided to just do it, and he prayed. He prayed. He prayed and God answered him, and he knows that this is all true, and he wants to feel more of what he felt as he read. He says he once believed in God, but for years nothing, but now his faith is restored and stronger than ever. It was such an incredible experience, because we didn't do anything. It was all pure God. He came to church on Sunday. I love you all!
Love, Elder Kimball
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