Hello from Aix-en-Provence!

Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 5:25 AM

Chers family and friends!  This keyboard is extremely difficult to write on and gmail is saying that I'm spelling every single word wrong!  But I'm in France!

I'm being trained by Elder Tulley in one of the most beautiful cities in Southern Europe.  Apparently Aix (pronounced X-on-prohvonce)  is one of the most coveted cities to work in in all of the mission.  My first week has been great, a lot of adjustments and a lot of learning.   They're seeing a lot of progress in the ward here in Aix.   We have a golden ami (investigator)  with a baptism date for the end of the transfer!  I am having an extremely difficult time writing this e-mail... haha its taken me 10 minutes already...

Lyon was beautiful...  We spent Tuesday there (running of no sleep... it was a lot of travel).  President Roney took us up to a big Catholic Cathedral which overlooks the whole city... it was incredible!  We took pictures, i'll try to include them.  Then we went back down and did some contacting.  We went to some of the most beautiful parts of the city (on the river and near a square with a dude riding a galloping horse) and did some contacting.  We did something called "street-boarding"... apparently its a pretty popular contacting method here in Europe.  We take a board that has some kind of theme, whether it be faith, family, Jesus Christ, Book of Mormon, and just stand in front of it and enlighten people.  It was pretty exhilarating.  There are so many interesting people here.  And there are also many who are looking for and are receptive to the truth.  I placed my first Book of Mormon and got my first phone numbers there in Lyon.  That night we ate a glorious feast at the mission home and had our first interviews.  The next day we had transfers, got our companions, were trained for a while and then headed out to our areas.

So Aix, often referred to as "Little Paris" is a beautiful ville in the rolling wine grape hills of Southern France.  It is pretty hot and humid here.  Elder Tulley is a Lamanite from an Indian Reservation in Nothern Arizona.  He has been here 10 months.  I'm am trying to do everything I can to learn this language so that I can help him a little bit more with lessons and with contacting.

The first thing I did here in Aix was taught and English class with Elder Tulley.  Twas full of laughter.  Only a Syrian man and a Chinese man were there.  The Chinese man might be interested in taking the discussions.  By the way, Aix is a big university town, and it is vacation time right now, so a lot of our potential investigators and people who we'll be working with are out of town this month.  It's good because it gives me some time to learn their language before I teach them the truth!  After the english class, I had my first rendezvous with Nicolas (the golden).  Guess what it was?!  The law of Chastity!  Twent swell.  Hahah.  He's committed and stoked for his baptism.  He has an incredible story.  He was truly prepared by the Lord before he even began taking the discussions from the missionaries.  He put away alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes before he even met us.  He's only 18 years old, and he's had a tough background with a father who abused him and committed suicide and a rough social life.  But if you met him, you would never think it, he is so nice and happy.

The ward here is incredible.  Everyone is so bright and happy.  The French aren't too keen on religion so those in the church are just super strong.  It is often said that the French are like their baguettes, hard on the outside, soft on the inside.  This is often true, but the members of the church are more like their croissants, soft, delicious and wonderful!  Yesterday afternoon I got to meet and enjoy getting to know many of them.  They have such incredible stories.  Many of them speak English, so I was able to have some radical conversations. We were invited to eat lunch with the missionaries who were returning to Aix with their families to visit the ward that they knew and loved.  It was at a members house and we had a huge feast of French cuisine out in the French countryside.  Twas a glorious sight for these old eyes.  The French people love to just eat, chat and laught. Those are things that I love to do as well.

A little miracle happened yesterday as well.  So Elder Tulley and his previous companion here have been teaching the daughter a woman in the ward named Irma.  She's from Honduras and she lives here with her younger daugthers.  They had been teaching Jennifer, who is 15, pregnant, and very very shy.  She came to church yesterday so I set up a Rendez-vous with them for in the evening.  When we went over, they were both there, along with Jennifer's older sister Erica, who had been taking the discussions but was dropped becuase she lost interest.  I did not find this out until after the rendezvous.  We were teaching about the Holy Ghost and they were are very, very difficult to focus.  At one point she asked why I was a missionary in kind of a light way.  At that point, I bore a sincere testimony of Jesus Christ in broken French and after that she opened up to us.  She said that she was having hard days and she wants to belong to a church, but doesn't know where.  We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and pray.  We set up a return rendezvous and we'll be able to see how she progresses! This weeks going to be a killer one!

I don't know much about the work here in Aix... Elder Tulley tries to rely on me to make a lot of the decisions and it's difficult because I don't the amis, or the area, or the language.  He was here last transfer, but I don't know how diligent they were.  I'm trying my best to make this work to progress and to just trust in the Lord.  If you could pray for me and for my companion it would be glorious.  This is the most difficult thing that I have ever done, but thankfully it's all in the Lord's hands, and with him everything is possible.

I love you family and thank you for all you have done to prepare me for this.  This work is truly the work of angels, I've only been here for 6 days, but I can see it.  The Lord truly guides us when we really on his arm.  He established his church on the earth 2000 years ago, he paid for our sins, he restablished his church nearly 200 years ago, and now he's guiding his work.  The power of Atonement is forever and infinite!  I love you, family and friends, forever and always!  Keep being the incredible people who you are.

L'amour,

Elder Kunzler

PS. Send mail to:

Les Missionaires

Résidence le Felibrige Bât B

Apt. 26, 4 Place CoÏmbra

13090 Aix-en-Provence

France

PPS.  If someone could send me some Book of Mormon audio CDs in French, twould be a miracle!

Week 2 in the Wonderful Ville of Aix!

Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 3:38 AM

Moi et mon premier patisserie

Chers Amis et Famille,

I hope that the lovely summer is treatly you so well!  This week was a magical week full of learning and cool missionary experiences.

I would like to start by bragging a little bit about my secteur. Aix is honestly one of the coolest cities in the world.  My favorite part of the city is in centre ville, with the classic European narrow cobblestone roads, beautiful fountains, Catholic churches, boutiques, patisseries, and LIFE!  Aix is a university town, but it is currently vacations time so there a lot of tourists and just people visiting.  Elder Tulley and I run this town with the Zone Leaders, Elders Ormond and Fitch.  One of our favorite things to do together is set up our huge sign, which reads "Nous sommes heureuse!" (We are happy!) and just has a big huge yellow smiling face and just talk to people.  We do it right in the smack dab center of centre ville at a place called the Rotonde (you should all look it up on Google Maps, its ultra cool)The French people are AWESOME!  Most of them look down on religion, because they see it more as destructive than productive (because of the religious history here).  Also, most of them think that we're an Amish sect, or some kind of a cult.  But when they see us smiling and being really nice to them, they open up a little.  We've even gotten some Rendez-vous out of it.

Divinity

So I don't think I told you guys this last time, but since I'm being trained, my first 3 months in the field will be a little bit different.  I have an additional hour of study with my companion, to be trained, practice teaching skills, etc. and a full hour of language study.  So that's 4 hours of study time, which kind of limits our proselyting time.  But in our proselyting time, we're working with a few wonderful people and also trying diligently to find people to teach.

Nicolas is our golden ami.  He has gotta be one of the coolest guys east of the Mississippi.  He has had a rough background and surmounted some incredible trials in his life.  He is 18 years old and he is working as a photographer right now during vacation.  He is studying literature, loves to read and write, and his favorite thing to do is spontaneously take his dog up to the Alps and LIVE there for a week.  He reminds me of the guy in Into the Wild (which is his favorite book, BTW).  He is set for baptism on the first Saturday in September and we're just trying to build his faith and get him to read from the Book of Mormon everday.

Nicolas the great

We're also working with the daughters of a new convert, Irma from Honduras.  Her daughters are Erika (early 20s) and Jennifer (15).  We love them and are trying to help them to understand who God is and why we need Jesus Christ.  Irma is so solid.  It's hard to get them to keep their committments though, because they have a hard time understanding scripture and they are rather passive.  But we're slowly working the Spirit into their hearts.

This week we met a Romanian family that is interested in the gospel!  We taught them the 1st lesson and we're going to see them again today.  It's rather difficult to teach them though, because some don't understand French or English, and those who do are having to translate it into Romanian.  But they understood the message, had lots of great questions and we're doing all we can to help them come unto Jesus Christ and find rest.

So this week definitely had it's ups and its downs.  On Thursday, I found two girls, taught them about the Book of Mormon and set up a Rendez-vous and got super excited.  Then the next day, we miraculously ran into the same two girls on the street, just hanging out.  We taught them the first lesson just right there.  Then later that day they texted us and told us that they didn't want to learn anything more about our church, but just be our friends when we weren't wearing missionary clothes.  It broke my heart.  But I learned so much from this experience.  I learned that when we teach and don't apply doctrine to each person individually, they are not going to be interested and thirst after further truth.  All that is done in missionary work ought to be done for the Savior and in the manner that the Savior would do it, or else it is of no profit.

Aix

But this week also had it's ups!  Yesterday was one of the most glorious days imaginable. There is a little branch of about 30 members in our secteur, which has no missionaries, so we go and visit once a month.  I went on a split with Elder Ormand, the Zone Leader and had the time of my life.  It's a ville called Manosque in the country (provence country, mind you).  The branch is like a big extended family and they LOVE the missionaries.  THere is one family that is about half the ward: husband, wife and 10 kids.  The sons are the Young Men of the ward and the daughters are the Young Women.  They are so strong in the gospel, it just brings light into your soul to observe!  They had us for dinner after and we ate a very French meal with cheeses, bread, salad, kiche, and meat bread.  I cannot express to you how good the food here is.  It is truly an art. For dessert we munched on sherbet and creme brulee glace (ice cream).   It was an afternoon to remember!

I would like to express to you appreciation for you prayers.  I feel them every single day.  I know that this is truly the work of the Lord becuase if it wasn't, it would not be possible to do.  I am greatful to my Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered for all mankind in order that all might be fixed.  I know that the enabling power of the Atonement is real.  I know that if we will rely on his merits, we can do anything that is expedient in him.  I love him and I love you!

Bonne semain!

L'amour,

Elder Kunzler

A giant piece of literature ourside of our apartment!

MTC Photos

District 46A

In the flowers

Elder Wilson (MTC companion) and I

Elder Johnson never smiles. Elder Ferguson smiles too much.

Elder Malone is just a little guy

Elder Murphy and I

My name

P-day!

Monocles and bow-ties

Forgot to shave

Elder Rellaford and I

Me reciting sweet poetry to Elder Murphy

Diligence

Our ties are really long

I think this one speaks for itself. (Elder Malone and I)

Six Hours Plus!

Hello from the MTC, one last time, friends and family!

It has quite the ride, but sadly my MTC stay is coming to a close.  In t-minus 6 days from now, I will be saying goodbye to all of the good friends I have made here and hello to France (with about 24 hours of travelling somewhere in between).  So, immediate family, apparently I am allowed to call you all from the airport and talk to you for a minute or two!  In order to do this though, I'm going to need to know how to get ahold of you, so if you could get that to me as soon as possible, that would be awesome!

This past week has been a most excellent one here at the MTC.  Elder Wilson and I had many new experiences together.  I would like to share a few of them with you.  So, I believe that I've mentioned that I the missionary companionships get the opportunity to teach other companionships the lessons in French, as well as play the part of an investigator.  This is one of my favorite things about the MTC...1. because I love acting and getting inside the head of someone completely different and 2. because I get to receive so much revelation on things that I can do to be a better teacher!  Our teaching skills have really improved as we've listened to and obeyed the things we learn by the Spirit in each lesson.

I don't know if I've told you all about the kinds of things that I do on a regular/weekly basis here at the MTC... So here's kind of a run down.  I wake at 6:30, get ready, and go to breakfast.  After breakfast we have morning class at 8:00 in which we have these lessons companionship-companionship as well as companionship-instructor.  We also spend class time learning French, mostly grammar principles and such, as well as missionary fundamentals.  All of my classes are all in French, so I'm pretty immersed in the language (not nearly as much as I will be next week, however).  After class, I have personal study time and then lunch.  After lunch is personal language study time, during which I usually get on a computer and work on a program called TALL.  TALL is a little bit geeky.  You sit there and watch robots teach gospel lessons in French.  But it's super helpful and I've learned to really appreciate it, because it teaches me new vocab as well as how to pronounce the words.  We also have a designated TALL time sometime later on in the day.  I also have gym hour, during which I usually work out with Elder Wynn, a UofU/olympic swimmer.  I don't mean to boast but I can keep up with this guy.  Rofl.  I won the diaper derby.  The rest of the day consists of dinner and then another classroom block, which is basically a repetition of the morning, only with a different teacher (and we're doing different stuff).

In the first six weeks, a lot of time was spent preparing and delivering lessons/learning how to teach/getting comfortable with the language.  Of late, they've been stacking on other stuff to get us prepared for the field.  One of my favorite things we do now is practice contacting, door-to-door as well as street.  It is way fun, because you have to think (or rather receive revelation and then act) QUICKLY.  It super fun though.  I have a feeling that it's probably going to be one of my favorite things out in the field.  Apparently they do a lot of metro contacting out in France.  YES.

Another radical thing we got to be a part of this week, being MTC veterans and all, was hosting new missionaries.  This means that we get to wear a cool sticker that says "HOST" and we pick the missionaries up off the curb, awkwardly stand with their luggage as their family says goodbye, and then take them through the MTC, give 'em a lil tour and take 'em to their classroom.  It involves a lot of consoling!  A lot of them are pretty nervous/shaken up and we try our best to calm their nerves.  We were in the EXACT same boat as them 8 weeks ago.  It's kind of funny how that works.

Well, I'm out of time, but I will write you all in France, I promise!  I'm more than excited to be there and for the experiences that await.  I look forward to sharing the thing I love the most: the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ with those men in berets.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind and that He lives!  What joy that sentence truly gives!

L'amour,

Elder Kunzler

PS  Shout out to Jacob and Hannah Mortensen!  May your life together be full of wonder, joy, happiness, bliss and all that you hope and desire!  I love you two and I was at your beautiful wedding, in spirit and thought.

Hello once again, family and friends.

 

I am still alive and well.  I am progressing in my knowledge and comprehension of the French tongue.  My testimony of the Restored Gospel is being strengthened daily.  Everday I am reassured that the things that I am doing are infinitely important and I am so grateful that I have been prepared by all of you for this work.  I thank you, one and all for your examples to me.  I am so happy that I have the knowledge that I do and that I have this opportunity to share this knowledge with others.  It is not easy work, even in preparing for the field, but as Nephi said, "I know in whom I trust."  He is my strength.  I have received so much from him and continue to receive much.  I would like to humbly share with you all a few of the things which I have received.

 

I am a human being with the capacity to choose between the good and the bad.  Because of this ability, I am able to progress and to learn in this life.  I know that because there have been times in my life when I have chosen the bad, I have estranged myself from God.  I have gone against the knowledge which I have received and thus turned myself away from him.  In his infinite wisdom, God made a way for me to be able to turn myself back to him.  He sent his Son, his first born, the Only Begotten of Him, to be the perfect sacrifice, the white lamb without blemish.  I know that this son was Jesus Christ.  I only know this because I have applied the blood that he spilled and it has freed me.  As the blind man, whom he healed said, "All I know is that I was blind and now I can see."  I was guilty, is was bound down, but now I am freed and have the peace of a free man, through the grace of the Prince of Peace.  I do know how it works, all I know is that God loves us so much that it does.  His arm is always stretched out, but it is all up to us to reach out and grab.  Like Peter, who was struggled and he turned his eyes from his master, we too can be rescued if we reach out and grab the hand which is out in front of us.  Like Nephi, who had difficulty rejoicing and finding peace in himself, if we will trust in Him and cry unto him that he will walk with us in our "low valleys" and "plain roads".  Like the people of Alma, our burdens can be made light and we can be delivered from all if we will but have faith and belief on the name of Jesus Christ.  I would not know these things if I hadn't put them to the test for myself.  And I would not say things which I did not know.  I know, without the shadow of a doubt, that Jesus Christ is my Redeemer and my Savior.  The Redeemer and the Savior of the whole world, whether he will have us to be or not.  He paid the price for all of humanity to return to the God, to find peace in this life and infinite happiness in the world to come.  I bear my testimony to you that the soul is immortal.  Everything around us cries this!  Look around the world, observe the patterns in nature, in the universe, in human behavior.  Everything cries for something greater, something we are all progressing towards!  God is in the heavens and we are his children.  We will receive immortal bodies and be able to stand in his presence, thanks to the Atonement which our Savior made for us.  How glorious a day that will be!  I know that the gospel which Jesus Christ brought to the earth was restored to the earth through a prophet that God called, Joseph Smith.  I know that he restored the fulness of the gospel, the true and everlasting church of Christ and the priesthood necessary to administer in it.  I am so happy to be a part of his kingdom on the earth and to be able to fortify as well as expand his stakes.  I love this work with all my heart and would not rather be in any other place than where I am now.

 

I know that God loves us.  I know this because I feel a portion of this love towards you, my friends and family.

 

L'amour,

 

Elder Kunzler

Chers tous,

 

Happy Independence Day and Happy July, one and all~~~!  My fourth was wonderful.  The highlight was eating a magnum bar and being able to stand in front of a big wire fence and watch the awesome fireworks show from a good, safe distance.  It's strange that this is my last 4th of July before the holiday of Independence becomes the 14th of July, Bastille Day!

 

So some great stuff happened this week.  I got my first MTC haircut.  I've that there is more wisdom to the Samson and Delilah story than meets the eye.  I have always had a fear of letting any but dad or maybe Grammy Kunzler cut my hair.  I learned that that is a very good instinct of mine.  Haha, I exaggerate, Delilah didn't take TOO much off... just enough to destory my strength and dissolve my self-confidence.  Also, everyone in the district has been gettting sick in the last couple of weeks, but I (thanks to Aunt Karen's secret goldenseal potion) have been immune!  They should sell that stuff on an infomerical.

 

I haven't told you much about the MTC culture, other than the fact that it is like Disneyland.  I used the Disneyland analogy, which I think fits well, but I didn't go into much detail.  Disneyland is full of so much joy, togetherness, unity, excitement and wonder... people come from all corners of the earth to enjoy in it's wonderful atmosphere.  And that's the way the MTC is... but there's also that part of Disneyland that is just weird, if you think about it.  The MTC also has that!  Hm, let me think of an example.  So, there are people who come from far and wide, they come to serve the Lord and to work hard.  There are plenty of foreigners in my residence hall, people from Oriental countries, New Zealand, Britain, Pacific Islands, etc.  All are dedicated workers with good hearts and cool perspectives.  There is one Elder from Japan who I always see on my P-Day clad in a plain white T-Shirt that says "Go To Lucky".  I honestly can't tell you what the meaning of this is, but it must mean something to him.  Maybe it is a motivational T-Shirt, and his nickname (or real name) is Lucky, as in "Go To, Lucky!"  Or maybe he comes from a place called Lucky and he is advertising his native land.  Who knows.

 

The MTC is such a great place!  I'm truly enjoying my stay here.  I'm learning a lot.  French is coming, slowly, but surely.  The Spirit is here and it is an excellent environment to study and learn.  One of my favorite things about the MTC is TRC.  It is something we all do once a week, where we go and teach a prepared lesson to a member who is fluent in French.  It was pretty scary the first few times doing it, but now I look forward to it.  The people are always really kind and they love hearing what the missionaries have to say.  There is one man who Elder Wilson and I have taught a couple of times who stops us mid-sentence every time we mispronounce a word or don't conjugate it correctly.  I'm grateful that he is concerned.  Better now than in France.  There is a lady from somewhere in Europe who wears little mittens and she always has this glow about her.  She spends the first 10 minutes (of our 20 minute time period)  finding out about families and past.  I love to converse!  She told us to be diligent in making our beds and then we shared a message with her about church attendance.  I have found that my French comprehension has grown in the last couple weeks.  I can basically understand the main jist of EVERYthing when one is speaking in French.  That's probably just because everyone is talking really slow.  I shouldn't let it get to my head, because I know that once I get to France it will be a different story, but I think there is some improvement!

 

Quickly, I want to tell you about another cool thing that I've been doing.  Each companionship gets to take the role of an investigator and be taught by another companionship.  I LOVE THIS.  I love being an investigator because you get a perspective that you don't have when you're the one teaching the lessons.  I've learned a lot from this and made some adjustments to my teaching based on the things that I've learned. Like I said earlier, the MTC is such a killer place to learn and to prepare for real missionary work.  I'm really grateful for the time that I've here and that I have a couple more weeks to learn as much as I can before SOUTHERN FRANCE.

 

I know that our Heavenly Father answers prayers.  I know that if we humbly get on our knees and communicate with our Father, God and Creator, he will hear us.  He will answer our questions.  He will give us his perfect love.  He will be there.  I know this because I have done so and I have felt so and there is no denying the things that I have received from his gracious hand.  I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer and the Savior and Redeemer of the whole world.  I love you all, family and friends!  Have an excellent, summery week!

 

Avec l'amour,

 

Elder Kunzler

J'irai et Je Ferai

Another week has passed by at the MTC!  I'm really liking my experience I'm having and the people who I get to spend my days with.  I love all of you and thanks so much for the little things you do for me that mean so much.  You know who I am referring to.  I know that you don't do these things for any kind of recognition, but just know that they are truly appreciated!  And also, I have pants!  I feel so stylin with my new pantalones.... i'll fit right in in France.

Friends and family I have SO MUCH that I wish to tell you about in this email and so little time.  I just want to start off by telling you about an experience that I had last week.  As you know, I got to fly out to San Francisco on Thursday to make a personal appearance at the French Consulate and do fingerprints.  This was a really nice break from the MTC schedule and it was a ton of fun spending the day with fellow Lyoners in Babylon.  Haha.  It was different.  We got a lot of great looks and great smiles.  But what I wish to tell you about is an experience I had on the flight out to California.  All of the other Elders in the group were assigned a temporary companion for the flight, but since there was an odd number of missionaries, it just happened that I would be the one who would sit with a stranger.  I ended up sitting next to a man named Tom.  He sat there on his iPhone, and once the lady on the microphone asked for all electronic devices to be turned off, he started doing Sudoku.  I felt so creepy watching his every move as I pretended to read the words of Paul.  I knew that I was supposed to talk to him, but I didn't know how.  At one point, I asked him how he was doing.  I don't think he heard me and he continued what he was doing.  Then I asked him super loud, enough for half the flight to hear, if he was going home or away.  He turned to me and said neither.  We started to have a conversation, he told me about how he was from Cincinnati and he had just finished some business in Salt Lake and was off to meet his family for a 10 day vacation in Southern California. This budded into a way cool conversation about his life, his family, etc.  Eventually he asked me what I was doing, so I told him.  I told him that I was spending two years to be a missionary for my church.  I asked him what he knew about my church, and about the Mormons.  He said he didn't really know a whole lot, but he seemed interested in what I was doing, and in what I believed.  Our conversation naturally involved into a discussion about religion.  He told me his conversations story (he's a practicing Protestant Christian) after he had his first son.  It was incredible, he just seemed like the most humble, down to earth, disciple of Christ.  I don't know how it happened. friends and family (just kidding, it was all by the Spirit) but I was able to teach this man SO MUCH about my religion.  We talked for at least an hour and a half.  I explained the basic teachings and foundations of our religion (the Resoration) and introduced the Book of Mormon to him.  We read the introduction. He was way interested.  He was so interested that he went on and read the testimonies of the witnesses (he was a patent lawyer, MIT and Harvard Law grad, so he was pretty interested in the witnesses and the logic behind it all, etc.) He had a really good understanding of the Bible and wanted to know more.  I taught him about "other sheep I have which are not of this fold" and we read most of 3 Nephi 15 together.  I'm going to have time to tell about everything we talked about, but I got to fit in all the material from the first 3 preach my gospel lessons and more.  And it was all in the context of a natural and interesting conversation.  He had lots of questions and with the help of the scriptures and the Spirit, I was able to answer them all to the best of my ability.  He took lots of notes, and at the end (knowing that he would want to know more) gave him a passalong card and wrote down how he could get his own copy of the Book of Mormon.  I was able to bear my testimony many times throughout the conversation.  All in all, it was my first missionary experience as a true representive of Jesus Christ and all the keys and powers which that entails.  And I felt it.  I felt the power of my calling and I know that it was real.  I know that I wouldn't have been able to answer the questions and communicate what was needed to be said to this man who had a much deeper thoughts than I do.  I don't know if this man will continue to be a truth seeker, but I have hopes.  I am just so grateful for the opportunity that I was able to have.

Well, I used up all the time telling that story... Sorrz.  I just want to say that I love you all so much.  The Lord has great things in mind for each of his children.  If we will allow our wills to be swallowed up in his will, this life will have so much more meaning.  Look forward with an eye of hope!  View this mortality raised to immortality!  Christ invites us to a higher plane of thought and he is willing to help us along our journey!  Allow love to swallow up the trivial things of everyday life.  I love you, and wish the best for you all.

Love,

Elder Kunzler

PS.  Happy 4th of July! I get to watch fireworks from the Stadium of Fire tomorrow night.  Should be kewl.  Eat an extra hot dog and otter pop for me, wouldya?