WEEK 25 - SPARK of JOY

Hello everyone! It's me again, Elder Z.S.Weber, with a quick (or more likely not) update on the workforce here in Kimball, Nebraska. Sadly, this week wasn't as "normal" as last week was. Oh, we didn't have any insane hunting incidents, and actually the goat-butchering that Brother Jones had planned for us on Saturday last week was cancelled due to the snow and harsh cold, so I can't talk about that until next week. However, even without the hunters and the hunting, this last week was definitely one worth writing home about.

Elder Weber  after tracting in the snow.

 

To begin with, let's go back to Tuesday of last week. Last week, I mentioned that I went on Exchanges with Elder Snelders, who is currently serving in Sidney, Nebraska. Well, on Tuesday, I had the lucky occasion to work with his companion, Elder Layton, while Elder Snelders and my companion, Elder Tapia, worked in Sidney. I'd like to say that, with the switch-up of companions and the wonderful weather we'd been blessed with that day, we got more work done than any other day so far...but we didn't. Mostly, what Elder Layton and I ended up doing was sitting around the apartment, passing the cellphone around as we tried calling up the less-active members of the Ward that live in Kimball, and seeing if we could set up an appointment to teach them and their family. And of the about fifteen families we called up, five of their numbers were disconnected and three of their addresses were incorrect, or simply did not exist to begin with.

This is a tunnel in the missile silo that leads to
the Zwonitzer's living area

A photo of how a missile silo looks
underground

The Zwonitzers home sweet home.
Where the pine trees sit is where the Zwonitzers have tried
to turn into a pond to raise and eat fish year round.
Due to toxins in the concrete it did not work.

The silo from above ground.

 

While Tuesday, and the exchange we had on Tuesday, was pretty much an utter let-down, Wednesday was much more exciting, and interesting. After we exchanged companions back and had finished our District Meeting, the four of us Elders decided to pay a visit to a fairly (in)famous family that lived just a few miles out of Kimball; the Zwonitzers. The Zwonitzers are well known for several different callings and occupations they have held over the years, but the most interesting fact they are known for is that Brother and Sister Zwonitzer live in an abandoned and unarmed Missile Silo. They gave us the grand tour of their "house", showing us where the missile used to sit, ready for war; how the silo gets the power to run, and how it was operated; and what renovations they had done to the place to make it their home. It's really something else--it was like one of those awesome houses from a sci-fi TV show, or the scene for a Zombie Apocalypse video game. It was awesome!

 

After getting the grand tour of the "underground house" and parting ways with our Sidney friends, Elder Tapia and I spent the next couple of days running around Kimball, trying to get work done. It was slow progress, but we managed to get to teaching some of the less-active members that were still in town and willing to listen to us. All this was leading up to Saturday, the day we were hoping to be our pay-off day, due to it being the day we were supposed to be helping/watching Brother Jones butcher some goats for a friend of his. However, Friday evening came around, and we found out that the goat-slaughter was being postponed until the next Saturday, or February 7th. We couldn't understand why they'd push it back to then, and we were really let down. However, on Saturday morning, we found out the real reason why it had been cancelled, and it was more than reason enough for us.

 

President Brown was coming to give interviews.

Elder Weber added is own John Hancock to the
signature cave.

Elder Weber in the "signature cave" which is also
the escape port.
 

Not only was he coming out to the out-lying areas, the "banishment" as we call it in the mission, to give us interviews, but because there was no other place in Kimball to meet, he was coming to our house and meeting with us in our personal space. As soon as we came to the knowledge of this surprise, Elder Tapia and I burst out into a flurry of action, trying to clean up our mess of a house as quick as we could before President could get there. I was absolutely nervous, frazzled like never before. I didn't know what he'd say, what he'd do, if we were doing well enough out here for us to not be worried. When he finally came to our house, I was pretty much ready to pass out from the stress of it all. To my surprise, though, President Brown showed up with a broad smile and a bone-crushing bear-hug, which was the last thing I'd expect from him. He wasn't even fazed by the deer skull we still had sitting on our mantle, and when he found out we didn't have a dinner appointment for that evening, he and Sister Brown offered to feed us at Pizza Hut after interviews were over. I was too surprised to say anything against it.

Panorama of the Elder's living area as they wait for a
visit from President Brown.

When it came time for me to have my interview with President Brown, my anxiety was gone, and I was eager to talk with him. The smile never left my face as I explained to him the plans Elder Tapia and I had set up for Kimball, and the reason for my cheerfulness in my emails to him. After a while, he finally said something to me that touched me deeply. He said, "Elder Weber, I'm glad to see that that spark of joy you had in your eyes when you first came off the plane hasn't dimmed the least yet. It's my hope that it never does while you're out here." A spark of joy. I wasn't even aware that I had this feature to my countenance, though it made sense. Though I've had my fair share of trials already while on my mission, I've never been more happy than I am now, while serving my Heavenly Father, and His children. More than that, I've never been so filled with joy than I am now.

 

That's what I'd like to talk about today for my spiritual message; going through life with a spark of joy in our eyes. It's hard, yes, with the wicked world that surrounds us and touches almost every facet of our lives. In spite of that, I know that we can push through that. We are children of a divine being--the Immortal and Eternal God of the Universe. Though the experiences we face in our lives may be hard, it can all be made easier when we put our faith in that simple yet beautiful truth and trust in our Father above. We can find that never-ending happiness, and it can make our lives so much more worth the living. This happiness, or rather this joy, comes from living like our Savior, our Father's most perfect disciple, Jesus Christ. If we commit ourselves to living and striving for those sacred and blessed Attributes of our Savior, namely Faith, Hope, Charity and Love, Virtue, Knowledge, Patience, Humility, Diligence, and Obedience, we will find greater amounts of happiness in our lives, gain the ability to endure even the harshest of trials, and attain the radiant spark of joy that fills our Savior's eyes. This I bear my witness of, in the holy name of our Savior, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

--Elder Z.S.Weber

 

 

**Excerpt from the Dad Letter:

 

Well, we're out on the flat-lands right now. It's a desert, though of course it doesn't feel like it, due to the fact that it's so cold right now. We have had some moments when air-raid sirens have gone off in the night and I've thought we're about to get caught in a tornado, but it's actually just the fire alarm calling the town's fire-fighters together for work.

 

Sadly, we haven't had much success with the blow-dart thing. Though, I do have a different sort of story to tell. A few days ago, while driving it Sidney from Kimball, my companion and I got pulled over by a State Trooper. We had been going about three or so miles over the speed limit, nothing too major, and we'd only been going that fast because the truck in front of us was going seventy in a seventy-five area. So, we pulled over to the side of the road, and the trooper came over and looked in. When we told him we were missionaries, though, he sort of deflated. Apparently, State Troopers try to pull over cars with Colorado license plates because they assume that any car from Colorado is trying to make a drug deal somewhere in Nebraska. The fact that he'd made this mistake obviously was a surprise, and a let-down, to him.