Iokwe from OK! Thanksgiving

Iokwe!,

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! Those who know me know that I really prefer to have low-key birthdays that don't involve being the center of attention. However, I anticipated that my loving parents and the mission Facebook page would not allow that to be the case. I was unfortunately correct.... However, I'm grateful for those who said something - it's nice to hear from friends and family wishing me well. I'm learning to be grateful for others' efforts to build me up and help me feel happy and loved, even if they are not what I would have asked for. I'm glad to have realized that - it makes me and others a happier person and it's the much kinder thing to do. Accepting it begrudgingly is rather selfish and ungrateful and a little prideful too. I'm not perfect at it yet, but I'll keep working on it, holiday after holiday. We've got Christmas coming up, which will be a good time to practice!

This week I have very little time to share much, but I do want to comment on learning and growing in this life. I feel that most of my messages tend to center on that, but change and growth are how we connect with the reason we all arrived here in the first place. We just need to have faith and be believing in the things we learn from the experiences we have. We can't keep questioning what we experience or what we have already learned. Our stake president in CA said, “I’m thoroughly convinced that controlled yet challenging environments are an ideal way to accomplish this”, commenting on a similar topic of learning to have faith. Those things we learn are meant to propel us into a greater experience of learning and changing in the future. If we sit and doubt that we are headed on the right path, we will ultimately end up with little initiative to press forward on the correct one. We should look for signs that let us know, but only ever with faith and an eye to move onto the right path, not to falter and come to a halt. I know as we do that, we'll find greater hope and peace! I'll be doing the same throughout this week!

Love you all!

Elder Josh KilmerOklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, English-Marshallese speaking
不動心Fudoshin:  immovable spiritwww.mormon.org