Gotta Learn Me Some Guatemalan Dialects..
Week: 32
Date: September 16, 2024
Location: Champaign, Illinois
Email: leah.kimball@missionary.org
Companion: Hermana McQuigg/Colorado Springs, Colorado
Blog: https://livinlavidastlouis.blogspot.com/?m=1
Lexi's Mission Blog: https://iputtheradincolorado.blogspot.com/
IF YOU WANNA SEE DAILY UPDATES JOIN MY PHOTO ALBUM: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UtSgfakxxo46tkbd6
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| Sister Shumway is my fav temp comp Champaign Illinois September 2024 |
HEY EVERYBODY!!!
Another fab email from your fav missionary!! Y'all let me tell y'all, I'm thrivingggg in Illinois!! The weather has been perfect, the people are so much nicer, and the city is so much cleaner!! I feel like I can breathe the fresh air outside and not get second hand high. St. Louis is great don't get me wrong, but I missed the trees and HUGEEE parks! I will say, what has been hard is living literally so close to Illinois University. We live right by “campus-town”, so there are tonsss of college kids everywhere. It's seriously the weirdest thing because I forgot people my age that aren't on missions exist.. and are at college.. I'm stoked to hit BYU!
Also y'all. Everyone EVERYONE here is Guatemalan... My Honduran charm isn't working any more. Nor the Spanish I speak..someone send me some guate dialect vocab books. (Jk this is a joke please don't) just wilddd.
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| Spa night.. thanks to mama Kimball Champaign Illinois September 2024 |
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| I LOVE MY POLY QUEEN SISTA FIFITA Champaign Illinois September 2024 |
This week we got to go to zone conference!! I love zone conference. Seeing other missionaries is seriously so fun and so uplifting! This past zone conference we have been on that family history grind. We've been trying to connect the family history app to find people to teach. I've tried the tactic a couple times and it is sooo hard with Latinos. But we press on! We got to do a bunch of practice teaches (basically we practice teaching to the other missionaries) on how we will do street contacting with the family history app!! It's actually a ton of fun! And I love it because it's so different!!
Also at zone conference we get our cars inspected, to make sure we aren't hitting too many curbs and if it is “zone conference clean”. With that they put your name into a draw and then Pres and Sis Mckay randomly choose 2 cars to win a $20 CFA gift card! Guess who naturally won the $20 gift card.. Hna McQuigg and I 🧏♀️!! So that was the bombest zone conf that I have ever been too!! Haha spiritually and physically fulfilling!
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| Got to run it back up with my girls Sister Taufa and Sister Pyne at zone conf Champaign Illinois September 2024 |
Thursday we had just about the weirdest lesson I have ever been to in my whole life. We pulled up to our friend Maria's house, right. Maria speaks very little Español and a whole lot of some wild Guatemalan dialect. We got to know her a bit, and she was telling us some of the craziest voodoo stuff. She then was telling us how she believes it's okay to do certain things that are definitely NOT okay!! So then, my Holy Ghost Spidey sense was telling me to get us out of there asap. So we quickly invited her to church and asked to end with a prayer. I asked her if she would say the prayer for us and she was more than happy to. So she proceeds to get on her hands and knees and starts yelling and crying and banging the floor with her hands. Her prayer was absolutely wild and might I add, completely said in her dialect. So just imagine some women screaming to the heavens in a different language, pounding the floor so hard.. It was terrifying but I was trying my absolute hardest to keep my eyes closed. Definitely a prayer for the books.
Friday was one of the best days on my mission!! I got to go on exchanges with Sister Shumway. Y'all I absolutely LOVEEEE my STL’S. I seriously lucked out so hard, they are exactly like all my friends from BYU! So Sis Shumway and I ran it up in the Spanish area this week. And we had literally so much fun. I literally love her to death. We also had a huge miracle happen. While I was teaching our friend Miguel the restoration and she was trying her hardest to understand, I started quoting the first vision to Miguel. Y'all, you will not believe what happened… he then started to quote it himself by memory… A couple days earlier we had sent him some info about Joseph Smith and he read everything and more!!! He literally kept telling us how he KNOWS he's a prophet of God!
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| Panera run in champaign!!! Champaign Illinois September 2024 |
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| Us before English class !!! Champaign Illinois September 2024 |
But seriously that exchange was just an absolute blast!!! Sis Fifita (literally my other AMAZINGG STL), Sis McQuigg, Sis Shumway and I then finished our exchange at lunch at Panera and it seriously was so fun. I love those girls with my whole heart. I'm so blessed to be with them here in Champaign!! I'm praying Pres. Mckay lets us do a BLITZ (quad sleepover) out here! God just knows me so perfectly and he knew that I needed them here!! GOD IS SO GOOD!
To finish up the week we had a bomb sacrament meeting… except. This branch has been pretty blessed because for a very long time they have always have some pretty talented Hermanas in their wards who have all known how to play the piano. Now Hemana McQuigg and I broke their streak because we in fact do not know how to play the piano. Although, they came up with a solution where I have been assigned to work this high tech self playing organ and my only job is to push one button every verse to play the songs. But I kid you not, this organ hates me. Every time I selected a song it would play the wrong one. After messing up our first two hymns, presidente excused me to sit down because I kept getting them wrong. So now my new rama definitely thinks I'm an idiot, but I'm gonna self train myself this week to prove myself to them next week! Haha! Or I'll just try to learn the piano 🤦♀️
All in all this week was beautiful! I really love champaign, it's so adorable! And I have seen a lot of signs from God this transfer of how he's in the details of my life. With that I want to share another bomb talk. Because talks are my life and Sis Shumway shared this one with me. It's all about marriage.. (I promise y'all I'm mission focused). It was just a bomb talk.
In Praise of Those Who Save
My favorite part in this whole talk is this quote “Those who save marriages pull out the weeds and water the flowers. They celebrate the small acts of grace that spark tender feelings of charity.” I apply this in my own life with my comps, replacing the word “marriages” for “companionships”. The mission is amazing because you get so many comps with so many different personalities and it really teaches you patience and humility. But I love this quote because I have been striving to water my comp's flowers to make her feel confident and try to be the best companion for her so that we are unified in our work. I know that God is my support and I know he loves me, and I know that he loves each of you and your companions (whether that be companions for life or for now). I know that he doesn't see the weeds in any of us because we are His children.
I love y'all. Be nice to each other this week. Show kindness to your sigfigs, friends, or comps, and love the way that He loved!! God is so good!!
-Hermana Kimball!
Dad: Glad you got some good Kash time this week, that's selfie had me crying!! I love y'all.
Mom: Did you miss me at the quilt show? No one to bring you Cafe Rio.
Colton: Not me crying after you barely mention me in your talk.
Caryn: I loved your formula, def trying that out this week.
Taylor: Remember that time you joined my call 2 weeks ago. Good mems. I'm kidding! Love you brother
Bailey: We don't have a Trader Joe's here. Please enjoy it for me!
Clay: ICONIC TEE.. now when are you gonna become a cougarette (but the boy version)
Lexi: Having Sister Johnson follow me on Facebook so you can stalk me? I know you miss me!
Bella: Your tik toks make my whole week! Pls send more !
Collins: 2 things.. I love Starbucks. I love your fit checks
Capri: Hey girl ? Where are your vlogs at?
Kash: Last time I saw you, you couldn't even walk..
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