Iokwe from OK! The Miracle of Baptism (sent 8/1/16)

Iokwe!

Such good news:  Danny and his family are getting baptized and confirmed! Depending on his wife's work schedule--which we don't know about yet and is pretty inflexible--we will be holding that service on the 20th.  We are so excited!

Allow me to expound on why that is so significant.  Baptism is very symbolic.  It represents death and rebirth and becoming clean so we can start anew. Confirmation is when we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost so that we can always have the Spirit to be with us to guide us through our lives, help us receive personal revelation, cleanse and sanctify us, and bring us peace and happiness.  Both ordinances are great gifts in those respects.  

However, they have greater import than just these aspects. When we are baptized and confirmed, we make a covenant, or promise, with God to follow the Savior more in our lives and to always remember Him.  We promise to help those around us and to try to become more like Christ. Covenants, like those in baptism and confirmation, are essential to return to live with God again.  God commanded the Children of Israel to make covenants with Him and He still requires the same of us today.

Jesus tells us that "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God" (John 3:9).  Christ Himself was baptized because even He wasn't exempt.  We are excited Danny's family will be able to begin making covenants that allow them to return to live with God again.  That is the purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; to help the children of God to participate in ordinances and make covenants necessary to live with God. In essence, that is a large part of our purpose as missionaries.  

An Apostle of the Church recently said of covenants: "At baptism we covenant to serve the Lord and keep His commandments. When we partake of the sacrament, we renew that covenant and declare our willingness to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. Thereby we are adopted as His sons and daughters and are known as brothers and sisters. He is the father of our new life. Ultimately, in the holy temple, we may become joint heirs to the blessings of an eternal family, as once promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their posterity. Thus, celestial marriage is the covenant of exaltation.     When we realize that we are children of the covenant, we know who we are and what God expects of us. His law is written in our hearts. He is our God and we are His people. Committed children of the covenant remain steadfast, even in the midst of adversity. When that doctrine is deeply implanted in our hearts, even the sting of death is soothed and our spiritual stamina is strengthened.    The greatest compliment that can be earned here in this life is to be known as a covenant keeper. The rewards for a covenant keeper will be realized both here and hereafter." --Russell M. Nelson, Oct. 2011

I used to look down on missionaries that were always talking baptism.  Since coming on my mission, I've realized how truly important it is.  

I know what I have shared is true.  I felt like it was the message I needed to covey this week.  I know baptism and confirmation blesses our lives.

My invitation is twofold:

1) Be baptized and confirmed by someone holding the priesthood authority from God.  Reach out to a Mormon friend or go to Mormon.org and you can get in touch with missionaries like me who will be happy to help.

2) When you have done that, come to church and renew your baptismal covenants weekly.  We all will still make mistakes; coming to church and taking the sacrament allows us to repent, move forward, and relieve ourselves of guilt and sorrow.

Again, I know these things are true.  I know that baptism and confirmation by proper priesthood authority are essential for us to return to live with God again.  I promise that if we take these steps, not only do we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide and support us in this life, but we prepare ourselves for greater blessings to come in the next.

Love you all.  Great to hear from you.  Thanks for faithfully reading my letters and supporting me in my efforts to help those in Oklahoma.

Jeramman!

Elder Josh Kilmer

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, Marshallese/English-speaking

不動心

Fudoshin:  immovable spirit

Iokwe from OK! The power of daily scriptures (7/25/16)

Editors note: were are a little behind.  This is actually Josh's letter from last week.  So, you get a double dose this week.  Enjoy!

Iokwe aolep!

It's actually really weird writing that Marshallese greeting, having served in English for a while now.

Some updates:  Still. So. Hot.

In other news:

Danny and his family are progressing so well.  I love going over to teach them. We taught them the Word of Wisdom this week (the commandment we received that helps us to know what to put in our bodies and what to stay away from); and Danny has stopped drinking.  He had an alchoholism problem a while back (is that right? can I say that? English phrases seem so wrong now...) and recently he liked to drink every night.  He has tried to quit before, but had major withdrawal symptoms--shaking, sweating, cravings, grumpiness.  This time he told us he said a prayer that he would be able to give it up and has had no symptoms whatsoever since.  His whole family seems so happy now.  It's clear that his wife, Elizabeth, is so grateful for the changes he is making.

On our way to our appointment with Danny, we were running really late (it was a busy day) so we were biking hard.  We reached an intersection where we needed to turn right, but we saw a man walking up ahead and at first I thought, "Nah, we're running late.  Danny's family is really important.  We'll just turn." But I felt like we needed to see him--the feeling hit me pretty hard.  Elder Larsen must have felt the same because he also didn't turn, but kept going straight.  Turns out that the man's name is Greg and he has been feeling like he can't find the right church where he feels welcome and excited to learn and grow.  Too bad we don't know any churches like that....Not!  We told him that those are some of the things we love most about our church and he allowed us to schedule a time to meet with him this week.  We told him it wasn't an accident that we had met with him.  I know it wasn't.  I know we were led to him after he had been prepared because God knows His children.

Recently, we have been focusing on helping people to make habits of daily personal and family scripture study.  I have such a huge testimony of consistent, daily scripture study.  It has changed my life.  My family can attest to that. I used to be the family member everyone wanted to avoid.  It was all about me and what I wanted and I had no time for anyone else's needs.  After I started reading daily, it took a while, but I slowly started to change.  My family started to enjoy having me around.  I was no longer someone you needed to tolerate.  Scripture study has continued to bless my life and to help change my heart ever since then.

Challenge time:  Make a habit of consistent, daily scripture study individually and with your family.  I am a great example of the change it can bring.  It will improve your life. When you demonstrate to the Lord that you are willing to make time for Him each day, He will take care of you; you will invite greater light, peace, and happiness in your life.  I have promised several people that as they build up the habit of daily scripture study, they will be able to break their habit of drinking or smoking (hopefully they start acting on that so I can have evidence of the power behind that).  I've seen it bring Danny's family closer together.

Start off by setting a goal that will still help, but will be so easy that you can't say no.  5 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 verses, 1 page, etc.  Set a time of day to do it.  This is not my promise.  This is the Lord's promise.  He consistently commands us to feast upon the scriptures and He promises to bless us.  As a representative of Jesus Christ, I testify that the Lord keeps His promises.

Love you all.  Life is great.  Always remember that.

Jeramman!

Elder Josh Kilmer

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, Marshallese/English-speaking

不動心

Fudoshin:  immovable spirit

An Indian Buffet Lunch

New photo of Elder Kilmer and Elder Larsen this week at a local Indian restaurant in Norman.  A friend of mine that lives in the area and works in Norman was nice enough to take two hungry missionaries to lunch.  Don't let those missionaries near the all you can eat buffet.  

Flashback Update: New Photos from the Old District

Update: some new photos from Elder Kilmer's district in Enid.  Elder Kilmer's former companion, Elder Nicholas, in the tall one next to Josh in the background.  

Iokwe from OK! New in Norman

Iokwe!

So, I am now in Norman, which is by Oklahoma City.  It is a college town and super beautiful.  The roads are smooth here (what a blessing!).  Also, there are so many trees!  It actually feels a lot like vacation.  I keep expecting to hit the beach or something.  

My new companion is Elder Larsen, who's our district leader (a district is a group of three to five missionary companionships).  He came right after high school and has been out for a year (I actually just passed my five month mark <<gulp>> time flies).  He is into computer programming, but I haven't gotten much time to discuss that with him because we have to bike super fast to make all our appointments (The sister missionaries mostly keep the car).

Sadly, there are no Ri-majns (Marshall Islanders) here.  I keep asking, but hardly anyone has even heard of the Marshall Islands.  We do see a lot of Native Americans though.  I almost got a red-tailed hawk feather from one.  I was so disappointed when he said he brought it for us but never actually ended up handing it over.

My dad asked me to explain the pictures of the cut on my face from a while back.  I thought I had explained that before, but it'll tell the story here, just in case.

​

So, Elder Nicholas and I were biking down the sidewalk one day.  I was in the lead and I saw some low-hanging branches that extended downward right in front of me.  They looked pretty flimsy, so I thought, "No tree gets in my way!" gave my best battle cry, and plowed head first right through them.  Well, it turns out that it was a branch that had fallen from higher up in the tree and wedged itself pretty tight on a lower branch, so it had very little give.  Hence my facial cut.  Am I dumb? Yes.  Would I do it again?  Also yes.

We have been teaching a family recently who wants to get baptized and confirmed.  Danny, the father, told us that in the two weeks that he has been meeting with the missionaries and reading the Book of Mormon, and praying, he has never felt happier.  To be honest, when I first decided to serve a mission, it was to meet expectations.  I knew that I was supposed to go, but I didn't really have a desire to serve God or help other people or anything noble like that.  But, since I have been out here and really living the teachings that we share with everyone, I've recognized how happy following the Savior's teachings makes me.  It really does make me so happy.  I've seen other people's lives change as we have taught them and I can tell it makes them happy too.  It's easy to see there is a difference in the lives of those that live these teachings and those that don't.  They go through the same rough times as anyone else, but those that live the gospel are always the ones with a happier countenance.  

We are taught that if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine (John 7:17).  That is, we can know if these teachings are true if we will test them by living them.  That's my challenge this week: try this church.  Test its teachings.  If you truly try with an open heart and mind, I promise that what you reap from your efforts will be delicious above all else because it is Christ's church and His teachings and, therefore, His blessings that you will receive.  If you are already sure of this fact, find a way to live it a little more in your life.

I testify from personal experience that it will make you happy.  Maybe you already are happy, but just like an intelligent person can learn new things, a happy person can still increase in happiness, gathering more light until the perfect day.  It may not come at once, and it will take some effort, but it feels good.

Jeramman!

Elder Josh Kilmer

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, Marshallese speaking

不動心

Fudoshin:  immovable spirit

www.mormon.org

Week 22: Some Photos of Elder Kilmer

Here are a few photos of Josh this week from his mission president, President Mansell.  It's always great to see him.  We're glad he is in good spirits and that he looks like he's having fun.  He may get the nickname of Elder Photo Bomb for the one photo.


Elder Kilmer and his companion Elder Larsen

Keeping up his reputation for funny photo faces and photo bombs.

Iokwe from OK! Stormin' Norman English-speaking

Iokwe!

News:  I am leaving Enid!  I've served in the Enid West area for the past two transfers (6 weeks per transfer), but now I get to move to Norman, English-speaking!  Norman is in the South Oklahoma City area.  I have no idea what it is like there.  Apparently I will be companions with an Elder Larsen (from Southern Utah).  As far as Enid, Elder Menlove will now be with Elder Nicholas on the west side and Elder Smith will be training the new Marshallese elder, Elder Lazarus.  I had the realization today that I might not come back to a Marshallese area for the rest of my mission.  I have no guarantee of where I will go; I may have served the duration of my stay with the Marshallese this early in.  That makes these next few days all the more precious.

One person I will miss teaching is John.  John is someone we met through Jebet, one of the members here.  They are both 16 years old and they had a friendly debate on prophets, to which Jebet called us in on to back up his side.  We don't look for opportunities to argue, but they are both friends and it wasn't heated, so we went over to his house, feeling like it could be a good teaching opportunity.  It was.

John changed from asking us questions to test our knowledge, to sincerely questioning us on topics he was unsure about but wanted answers to.  Lessons with him are honestly so refreshing because with Marshallese people in general, they are vaguely Christian but don't have much religious education so they struggle with questions like "What is faith?";  John struggles with questions like "What is faith?" because he analyzes everything and then asks 3 follow up questions for every answer we give.  He asks us questions I have never been asked before.  John is the kid that every mission prep and seminary teacher prepares you for because each lesson we study beforehand pretty much goes like "What deep question is he going to ask us this time, and what are some Bible and Book of Mormon scriptures can we us to back up our answers?"  Last lesson we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and he said that if  he reads, prays, and receives an answer that it is true, he will happily be baptized.  We're stoked.

On thing that I have been thinking about is faith and trust in God.  In my personal study this morning, I learned that faith in God and trust in Him are developed by 1) learning more about who He is and getting acclimated with His character, and 2) being tempered through experience.

When a sword (or any blade) is being created, if it is good-quality steel, the blade will have been "tempered" through a process of heating and cooling.  These extreme temperature changes strengthen the steel and allow it to take some abuse.  Untempered steel is subject to breaking when put under stress.

The same is true of our faith and trust.  It's difficult to have faith in or trust someone you don't know.  Thus we must draw closer to God and get to know who He really is.  This can be accomplished by diligent prayer and scripture study, and going to church.  Someone seeking will be rewarded with the discovery of God's character.  We will get to know Him.  However, without tempering, this newly developed faith and trust will be at risk of shattering.  We must experience for ourselves that God's teachings are true, that they will bless our lives and that He does keep His promises.  This tempering often occurs in the furnace of trial and challenges that life brings.  Staying true in these instances and allowing God to help us through will strengthen our faith in Him.  But, just as the steel is repeatedly heated and cooled, we too can experience the cool and refreshing experiences of taking a step of faith and testing a gospel principle or trusting in a promise God has made and applying it in our lives.  

A good example:  the Book of Mormon.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul promises us that we can only learn of spiritual things through spiritual means.  At the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni--an ancient prophet--promises us that if we read the Book of Mormon and ask God sincerely if it is true, He will answer us by the power of His Spirit and tell us if it is true.  I have applied this principle in my life.  Having read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, I have received a witness that it is true.  This has strengthened my faith in God and my trust that He will follow through on His promises.  When my faith has been tested on my mission, I have been able to draw on this experience, among others, to strengthen me and help me continue to act in faith and trust God.

With this in mind, my challenge this week is to strengthen and develop your faith and trust in God by trying one of His promises for yourself.  Allow Him to prove that His teachings are true.  Live a gospel principle that you have been struggling with or were unsure about.  God promises us that He will bless us for our obedience to His commandments.  I promise that if you choose a commandment or principle, or promise to apply in your life, God will come through, He will keep His word, you will feel a difference in your life, and your faith and trust in Him will be tempered against the coming stress and abuse life will throw on you.  

You're all the best!  I'll give you word on Norman next week!

Jeramman!

Elder Josh Kilmer

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission, Marshallese/English speaking

不動心

Fudoshin:  immovable spirit