80 Years Young! 💒

 

Week: 64
Date: April 28, 2025
Location: Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Email: leah.kimball@missionary.org
Companion: Sister Richins /American Fork, Utah
Blog: https://livinlavidastlouis.blogspot.com/?m=1

Lexi's Mission Blog: https://iputtheradincolorado.blogspot.com/

Sister Matthews and Sister Richins!! Go Cape Zone!
Cape Girardeau Missouri
April 2025

Sister Mckay and us at president interviews!!
Cape Girardeau Missouri
April 2025

 Carbondale District!! Sorry for the blurry pic!
Left to right: Elder Millward, Elder Heiner, Elder Kooyman,
Elder Summers, Me, Sister Richins!! 
Cape Girardeau Missouri
April 2025

Hey everyone!

I hope y’all had a blessed week! Let me fill y’all in on good ol' La Salle.

This week, Sister Richins and I decided we just want to "find" all the time. On my mission, I feel like I'm always finding, but whenever you do a self-check and relock yourself into the work, it gets so much more fun. I realized I was kinda going through the motions a bit, so we did a recheck and tried to lock back in! It actually went super well. We knocked so many doors, talked to so many people, and it was honestly a wild time! Talking to more people means talking to more mean people (and nice ones obviously), but gosh—being on a mission has really shown me the kind of people I hope to never be like, lol! People are so mean sometimes, but whatevs!

We got hit on at this park bench... said no thanks... 
then got yelled at that we were in a cult #slay.. 
then he proceeded to tell us that if we say
certain spell prayers with him we'd be saved ! 🙏 
Cape Girardeau Missouri
April 2025

 Selfie with Sis. Richins heading out the door! 
Cape Girardeau
April 2025

The Larrys and Gregs of the world make it so worth it! Speaking of—our friend Larry did smoke this past week, which means we had to push his baptism back (in my mission, they have to be clean of Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity concerns for at least two weeks before baptism). So we readjusted his date, and now it’s going to be May 10th! He's pretty hyped about it, and we are too! He came to church this past week and even brought our friend Regi with him! Regi is one of our cool, old, hip Black friends. He's awesome! We did find out he is ¾ blind—he worked as a painter, and one time he spilled a lot of paint in his eyes.

Greg, on the other hand, recently moved!! AHHHH! We are still teaching him, but since we haven’t gotten his new address yet, he may need to progress with a different set of missionaries. But we are still so hyped for him!

Y’all, we also had some lessons with Aicha this past week. She's literally so amazing! She’s an African hair braider, so every time we come over, she has a client who she's braiding—and they get to hear our message too! Hahah! Aicha is so cool, but she's not understanding the priesthood! Ugh, it's so frustrating. We’ve taught her about it three times and even brought members to help explain, but she still thinks her old pastor was qualified because he was baptizing people for 40 years before her... Aicha hasn’t been to church with us yet, but I know that when she comes, she’ll feel the Spirit. So that’s our game plan!

Speaking of people not understanding—our amigo Ocdabio is from Mexico. He came to church last week and yesterday! He’s literally awesome, although he’s trying to practice his English so he won’t let me speak Spanish to him, and it's driving me crazy!!! Because he’s not fully understanding what we’re saying, and I do speak Spanish—so it’s just frustrating, ahaha! A member gave us the idea to ask him if I can “practice my Spanish” with him—so maybe that will help! We’re going to try that in our lesson tonight!

We had President interviews this past week too! The deeper I’ve gotten into my mission, the better the interviews go. The conversations President and I have really help me and how I want to guide the missionary work here. We talked all about shooting for high goals and just going so hard! I told him all about my plans and expectations for the area, and it had us both pretty hyped! We also talked about the Book of Mormon, and hearing President McKay talk about it is so amazing. This man *loves* the Book of Mormon, and it truly radiates. He also knows the coolest facts and strengthens my testimony every time!

The Staples story! 1: the baptism day!!!
Cape Girardeau Missouri
October 2024

The Staples story: 2: the proposal at the baptism!
Cape Girardeau Missouri
October 2024

 The Staples story: 2nd day in white for Mrs. Mary Staples!
I LOVE THEM!!
St Louis Missouri
April 2025

Y’all, let me introduce you to Mary and Frank Staple! Frank is 88 and Mary is 80. They met at an old folks' home not too long ago. Frank got baptized three years ago, and he and Mary started going out on dates. Frank invited Mary to church with him, she started meeting with the missionaries, and got baptized in October! He baptized her… then proposed that same day! Literally, they are my favorite humans ever!!! Mary got to go to the temple this past week with Frank!! Literally the best news ever! She was so excited to tell us all about it! Because of recent mission rules, we couldn’t go with her, but I was so happy to hear how much she loved the temple. Gosh, I love this great work!

The Staples and Larry!!! Slay crew! 
Cape Girardeau Missouri
April 2025

Also, yesterday we and the elders got invited to a missionary fireside for the seniors in high school! It was so fun—it was like a Q&A, and we got to share our experiences. Then we were split up into groups and told to train two missionaries so they could teach some “friends” by themselves! They did that, and I think *my* girls killed it! They are literally going to be the best missionaries ever! It was so fun, and Sister Richins and I slacked on taking pics—so sorry, no photos! But I loved it!

 Packing for Miss Toni to heard to Europe for 3 weeks...
 #pleasebebaptized
Cape Girardeau Missouri
April 2025

We made homemade pizzas at the Perkins
 home the other night! I genuinely LOVE them so much!
Cape Girardeau Missouri
April 2025

This past week, I was listening to a podcast that Church News put out. I listened specifically to the one with Tom Holmoe (retired athletic director at BYU), and he shared this experience he had with David A. Bednar and the BYU baseball team:

 “But it was many years ago—probably 15 years ago—I was at a baseball function where Elder David A. Bednar came and spoke to the baseball team. They were doing a Q&A, and one of the boys asked:  

  

‘How do you know, in your service or in your walk of life, who to see and who to talk to?’  

  

His answer is what struck me. He said,  

  

As an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I know that every day the Lord is going to place somebody in my path. I don’t know who it is at the beginning of the day. Sometimes, throughout the day, I’m talking to many people, and I often think, “Is that the one? Is that the one?”’ 

 

 And then he said it’s not until the end of the day that it comes to him—that he realizes this one person, at that time, that day, “that person was the one I was supposed to see.” And you look at that—that’s a miracle.

 

 But he challenged us and said, ‘You can do the same.’

For me, that’s a sweet exercise—to follow Elder Bednar’s counsel and, at the end of the day, ask: Who was the one person the Lord put in front of me today?

As missionaries, that is definitely the exercise of the work: Who was the one I was supposed to speak to today? I know our Heavenly Father truly does number His children. I know He's aware of each of us, and I want to make sure I’m being used to help Him and His work! I want to extend the same invitation that Elder Bednar gave to the baseball boys—to each of you:

Who is the one that the Lord puts in front of you each day?  

I know there’s always someone needing our service. I can truly testify of this service—to bring others back to Him.

I love y’all so, so much!  

Have a stellar week! Remember, God loves you and He is so good! 🩷🩷

—Hermana Kimball 🩷

Dad: I watched the video of you and Bella dancing probably 12 times and teared up every time! Miss you! 🤩🥹  

Mom: BIG PARTY AUGUST 15—WHOOP!  

Colton: Fat Colton was funnier 😜  

Caryn: BIRTHDAY WEEK!! Happy birthday to my fav sister-in-law ever! 💓  

Taylor: Best Miles cam ever.  

Bailey: Don’t let anyone see Miles till I get home. I want to be the first to hug him.  

Clay: Gets a GF and stops posting on Facebook… #sendmoretiktoks  

Lexi: Pres. and Sister Kotter talked allll about you to the McKays!  

Bella: What number comes after 7? ATEEE!! YOU ATE AT PROM!! UR GORGEOUS!  

Collins: Smh... 10 y/o 🤦‍♀️! Nice tag, btw.  

Capri: I'm gonna need some content from you, girl.  

Nephews & Niece: The braid, the piano, the aunt shirt—I LOVE it all!!