Iokwe from OK! Merry Christmas!

Iokwe!

Today is actually our P-Day so you get to hear from me twice this week in quick succession. Because of that, I'll keep this one short and you'll get to hear from me again with some new updates after the year has passed.

Talking with Elder Kilmer on P-Day

Biggest update: our mission is changing its boundaries! We are accumulating Tulsa and some surrounding areas as part of our mission! So Elder Menlove is actually transferring to a new area in Tulsa (English speaking). Elder Nicholas is transferring back to the East side with Elder Lazarus and Elder Tetea and I are staying the same on the West side! This whole change is crazy because it means a lot of missionaries will end up moving areas and houses, but it will allow for every ward (church boundary area) in our mission and the adjacent mission in Arkansas to have missionaries! 

The other exciting thing this week happened while Elder Tetea and I were trying some new Marshallese houses we had yet to knock on. At one, the door opened and Zniko was standing right in front of my face. You may not remember Richie and Zniko, but they are a wonderful couple that we were teaching before that kind of fell away for a bit. They wanted to get baptized, but were waiting on marriage and in the meantime got busy jobs and never really would keep appointments. But she was really excited to see us and told us they now have a car and are moving to their own house and want to come back to church actively. I was so excited and I believe this is a really good fresh start for them. Anxious to give you good updates on that in the coming weeks!

Have a great Christmas everyone. Remember the Savior. Love you all.

Jerammaan!

Elder Josh Kilmer
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, Marshallese speaking

不動心
Fudoshin:  immovable spirit

Iokwe from OK! Hiking through Life

Iokwe aolep!

I get to email late today since we have actually been doing some translation service this week - a large part of yesterday and some more this afternoon - so our P-Day has been split across a couple days this week. 

This week's letter is a very honest one. Normally I like to cut out the things that bother me because I prefer to mostly solve my problems quietly on my own without having to drag others into it, but this is what is currently on my mind and I also think it is something that most people can relate to.

Life often feels like a hike to me. There are beautiful scenes, tough patches and enjoyable stretches. You move at different paces, sometimes travel with different parties. It's a great analogy. This last transfer has felt like I have reached a part of the trail that leads into a fog bank. I can kind of see enough to walk forward, but I'm unsure of the direction to take, or where exactly I am on the trail. At times the trail has been faint and it's been hard to tell if I have accidentally wandered off. 

There have been a lot of unexpected challenges this transfer. We got mumps for a week and couldn't work (we're all better now though). We've had a lot of sickness in our district and our car was in the shop for a week, which really crippled our ability to travel over our large area. These and other situations that are completely unfamiliar to me have made the past several weeks a huge guessing game and I often am unsure if I have made the right decision. Sometimes there wasn't a clear distinction between doing something good and doing what was best. 

This has been really difficult for me because I am happy to just change my behavior if I know I have been doing wrong, but I really have no clear perspective on that right now. It's also not really about doing right or wrong, but about good, better, and best, and about being diligent and doing everything you can. Also, many decisions have required more experience or better leadership skills than I possess at the moment. 

My friend, Sister Pun does a good job of talking about Jesus Christ and His Atonement for us; I figure I should take a leaf out of her book and do my fair share today:

When the Savior died for us, He didn't just do that so that we could live again after we die. He did that so that we could be forgiven of our mistakes. But that doesn't just include when we do something bad, but also when we simply fall short of being perfect, when we choose good rather than best; like how I do every day, but especially have done this transfer. The best part though, is not that we get to be forgiven and not have our mistakes stain our track record, but that the Atonement - Christ's grace available due to His death on our behalf - provides the enabling power to allow us to become better, to overcome our weaknesses and leave them behind. 

One of my favorite scriptures reads: And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. -Ether 12:27

I have definitely felt humbled by this past transfer. It has helped me recognize a lot of weaknesses of mine. However, I know that because of the Savior's sacrifice for us, it hasn't just been a trial by fire, but a refining fire to help me lose my impurities and become something more. That doesn't mean that these experiences aren't painful, but it does mean that they have purpose. I know that they have purpose because they are the Savior's way of helping us become more like Him and to follow him more closely. I know that He is the reason that we can find joy despite suffering in our lives. He is the reason life is worth it. I'm so grateful for His sacrifice for us and for me and for His constant love and patience with our weakness and my weakness. 

I know He lives. I know He loves us. I'm grateful to feel that every day out here. I promise that there is light that will prevail over whatever darkness we face in our lives, the small bad days and the catastrophic struggles. I also promise that we can overcome ourselves and become something more, no matter our weaknesses or imperfections. I know that will bring us joy.

Hopefully you can relate and it can bring us a little more joy as we remember the Savior this Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!

Jerammaan!

Elder Josh Kilmer
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, Marshallese speaking

不動心
Fudoshin:  immovable spirit

Iokwe from OK! Crazy week!

Iokwe!

Despite the name, we didn't really get a whole lot of stuff done this week. It's actually been crazy because the van is currently in the shop, and will be until late this week, so we have to bike everywhere. Which is really tough because Elder Tetea has a tough time biking for some medical reasons. So we have been really blessed because the first day it was an issue and we stopped and prayed and asked what we should do. I was a little uncertain because I didn't want to be far away from missionary houses if we had some problems, but we both felt like we should go to our next appointment. He's been fine all week ever since. It's been a major blessing because we've been able to work because of it.

Alright, this one is going to look weird because I copied it from our letter to the mission president, but this one is awesome. A little background on this: There is a member in our branch that we are really wanting to get to trust us, but we really haven't known how to do that, because they haven't given us anything when we have asked how we can serve them. They are an integral part of this branch and we need their trust and we want to work well together with them, so this has been a matter of prayer and much discussion. Finally, we determined that the best thing to do would be to visit members of their family.

Unfortunately, in this family, the culture is to follow the eldest brother, who is a pastor at another church that is very unfriendly towards our church. Another family member is a return missionary from our church and is also a pastor at this other church (by the way, sorry that this is super vague, but I'm trying to not point fingers at anyone specific). So, essentially, we don't expect very much of a warm welcome from this family. But we really felt like we needed to try. Here's the miracle (I changed the family name):

Remember how we talked about the Alkij family and our plan to see them to serve Brother Alkij? Well, the other day, we were biking past a house that I knew was a Alkij house and that probably had the return missionary who is a pastor there. I had a feeling that we needed to be there. We stopped for a minute and some people opened the door, saw us, and ran back inside and closed the door. I figured that wasn't too good of a sign and also wanted to stop by someone else who was nearby and who loves the missionaries, whom we haven't seen in a while. Well, they weren't home. While we were knocking on their door, I saw what looked like Brother Alkij's car rounding the corner. I put two and two together and I turned to Elder Tetea and said, "Want to do something crazy?" He was up for it, so we went across the street to the Alkij house. We pretended like we didn't see Brother Aljkij parked there, but he flashed his lights at us, so we walked over. He seemed happy to see us. We told him we were going inside and then knocked on the door. Long story short, we were invited in by someone we learned indeed was the return missionary pastor. But he was very kind to us and talked to us for a bit. He told us himself that he served a mission in San Diego and then allowed us to share a message to the 30 kids running around and say a prayer with them. Apparently they are moving to another state this Friday, but we offered to help them move if they would like.

It was a huge miracle because we definitely didn't deserve that warm welcome in that house (well, we did, but they, within all reason, shouldn't have given it to us). We thought they would toss us out. But we had a good experience with them and to top it all off, Brother Alkij, the very guy we were trying to serve, was sitting right outside and saw us go in for a good 20 minutes. It was awesome and a clear sign of God's hand in this work.

Once again, somehow I am out of time, but hopefully I was able to get across how amazing that was. Seriously, biggest miracle of my mission. Love you all, sorry I'm so low on time again this week. Talk to you all next week!

Jeramman!

Elder Josh Kilmer
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission
不動心 Fudōshin:  immovable mind

Iokwe from OK! Mumps!

Iokwe aolep!

Remember that one time I made promises about emailing more consistently and then didn't email for a week? Well..... Life decided to throw me a little curve ball and I caught mumps last Friday and wasn't allowed to leave the apartment. Something about spreading it around and infecting people. So, I got to drive down to Noble and pick up Elder Nicholas who was also feeling sick and we both stayed quarantined in our apartment in Enid for a week. 

It was terrible.

At least I got to stay with Elder Nicholas, who made it fun. Our faces swelled up pretty badly and it was hard to eat. But we had to wear masks when people came near us or dropped off our groceries, so we got to make Batman and Bane jokes, so that was good. 

Elder Kilmer with his mouth wide open, apparently getting or giving mumps to Elder Nicholas, standing next to him

So, no updates on the area because it's suffering immensely from lack of attention. But, I'm back in action now and restless from sitting inside for days. So, you should get a good report from this next week because we're going to go kill it. 

Sorry, I wish I had more time this week! Thanks for consistently writing even though I haven't!

Elder Josh Kilmer
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, Marshallese speaking


不動心
Fudoshin:  immovable spirit