A Rolling Stone for the Lord

In her epic poem, Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Barrett Browning expressed the eloquent thought:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

This is taken from the new Ensign, an article about Handel's Messiah, maybe Mom's read it, anyway, I read it and thought it was excellent. I find myself enjoying poetry, the little bit I end up reading out here. I like to sit and stew over it, ponder on what its trying to say. Some people are very "eloquent orators" and I don't always know what they're saying initially. So I like to think on it. Its fun. This little verse in particular I thought was great. Truly there are many wonderful things in this world. But I guess its in our court to recognize and enjoy it. Ties in with Christmas quite well. We've been sharing a message with all the members that hits on that very point. Generally just to try and remember what Christmas really is, amidst all the hustle and bustle. We may not expect to see Christ (or Heaven) in a bush. The Jews certainly didn't expect to see Christ in a stable. Hopefully we look around and expect to see goodness in the world, and especially expect to see Christ in the Christmas season. But blackberries are delicious.

Yesterday, the sabbath, the Lord gave Elder Rogers and I a Christmas present. It came with a lovely bow around it, wrapped up in beautiful decorative paper. It was the most wonderful gift I about could imagine. Actually it was a person. His name is Rob. He just showed up at church. We didn't even notice him initially. What good missionaries we are. But someone pointed him out to us, and we got to talking and holy smokes - this guy is the most golden contact I've ever had! We had a little lesson with him right after church. This guy is no joke. I guess he was kind of taken in by some people a few years back (having had a rough go in life from time to time, having basically no family) who I think were members. Anyway, he said he feels Mormons actually "walk the walk" and he appreciates that, to paraphrase. So - apparently he's at the bottom of his spiritual barrel, and knows its time for a change. He told us that he is willing to anything to change his life around. He so badly wants to surround himself with good people and good influence. Guys - you have never met a person who spoke to you with such sincerity as Rob. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. He is a humble seeker of happiness in the truest sense of the word. My socks were knocked right off. Usually we ask people questions to try and see where they're at and what's important and things of that nature. Rob pretty well volunteered all that to us and all we really could say to him time and again was "THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!" He's in his late 20s, and he's pretty sharp. Seems like a sponge. Just soaked it all up. Gosh I wish I could do justice to it all in words. We invited him to be baptized and his response was basically "oh yes, I absolutely will be baptized. I would love to do that." How about that. He might have some issues, we shall see, but at this point, GOLDEN! Regardless of issues, we can work through issues. The Atonement fixes issues. We promised him that and we know it from it experience of course. Gosh. It was wonderful. The blessings of the Lord are overwhelming sometimes. The feeling of joy, the good feeling inside of happiness, of gratitude, of peace, whatever you want to call it, its something that you cannot trade, and you certainly can't buy. That is what this guy is searching for, and it is what Elder Rogers and I felt yesterday. He told us he was thirsting for something and that he wanted to "dive into God." He seems to have about every righteous desire a person could have. Its beautiful.

Well apart from a fantastic Sunday, this was generally an excellent week. I have felt great. Not always of course, as there are many challenges amidst it all, and especially much challenge ahead when Elder Rogers goes home. Nevertheless, you can't beat the feelings one often feels as a missionary. Being in the Lord's service. You really can't. The feelings of wanting to stay out here forever are so bittersweet. I know it must end, but I also look forward to it ending and coming home. This work surely has many of the most interesting mental phenomenons one can experience.

I had an exchange with my old companion Elder Reynolds down in Glastonbury, CT. It was a good day getting back with him. He's a good kid. Very committed. Sets some strange goals sometimes, but we've all got our things. There are so many great missionaries out here. Our mission has done such a 180 in the past two years. I think I've said this before, but I just love it! I love seeing all these young Elders so committed to the Lord and His work. We have a young mission right now, most of us have been out under a year, so many of them are figuring things out, struggling at times, but I suppose that's part of the show. The church has a new set up for training leaders and working with the Mission President and it is excellent. The Church, I don't know how they are so smart. They exemplify the phrase "always improving" perfectly. Truly an incredible organization. Anyway, Elder Reynolds - fun to reminisce about Waterbury. Waterbury was my hardest area, but its so interesting, I look back on it with more fondness every day. Every area. I have had nothing but great areas with great people. I really really have.

Elder Rogers and I have been having some really good conversations about missionary work lately. Its a very challenging thing because there's not really a best way to do anything. So much is situational, so its tough to make overarching statements, or even "rules". But we do see patterns, and observe different things in our own work. I think we're learning some good things here toward the ends of our missions, and hopefully we can implement some things if the opportunity arises and if it feels right.

Gosh what else... This other lady Mary were working with is doing pretty good I think. She didn't make it to church yesterday for some reason, but she should be okay.

Well, I can hardly believe its Christmas week. Saturday! Really?! Really??! Gosh, it'll all be over before we know it. That makes me real sad because its been so great lately, the music and the decorations and lights and the spirit of it all in general. Its just FUN! I'm not 100% on what time I'll be calling. It might be in the evening. I'll keep you posted. I need to make a list of stuff to talk about!

Life is good my dears. I hope you like my Christmas card! They're fun to make out here. One of those missionary things to do. Okay I guess I'm done, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!

Love Elder Kunz