More Miracles

We saw so many miracles in our week that it is hard to pick a
few! We had a few people come to church for the first time this Sunday with us! We have been meeting with a man named Randy (pictured in the
back), who has not been to church in 15 years, for about a month now.
We have invited him to church each week but he didn't come for one
reason or another. This Saturday we went to remind him but he wasn't
home, so we left a sticky note saying we would be back in the morning
to walk with him to church. He was surprised when we actually showed
up, but he got ready and came with us, and stayed the whole time!
Later that day when we had our lesson with him we asked him how it was
and he said that He saw God's hand so much in his life that day! He
said he went to sleep really late, but he set an alarm anyways,
thinking he might sleep through it; it never even went off but he said
he was wide awake before it was even supposed to. He said that even
then he thought that he might not go, but when we showed up he said he
couldn't say no. Then when we got to church he ran into the stake
president and was so warmly welcomed and made an instant connection!
The Sunday school teacher introduced himself to him after sacrament
meeting and led him to his class! Then in the next class, elders
quorum, he found out that the men had a special fast for that Sunday that more men would come into the ward, whether they would be new or
returning! He was overwhelmed by God's love! It was one miracle after
another! I have learned that a miracle is something that happens with
divine intervention that otherwise would not happen! God is so great!
     Also, Cassius and his mom came, they are pictured below! He
brought his Bible that we gave him with him and has been tabbing it!
He really like it and begged his mom to let him stay for Sunday school
even though they were only supposed to stay one hour, and she let him!
He is so sweet! When we met with him this week, we finished our lesson
and he said is it okay if I ask a question off topic? And we said
sure! And he said so what time do you wake up? What time do you go to
work? How much does a mission cost? We told him, and he said I wanna
go on a mission! Haha his mom told him to start saving! She is such a
good supportive mom!
     We are adjusting to life as a trio... Our new sister is really
nice! She's from Texas!
     I appreciate hearing from you all in your emails! I love and
miss you, time is flying though! 😊


Love,
Sister Kirkpatrick

Hello everyone!

     The greatest joy in my work this week came from seeing how God
provides opportunities for His children to grow! Angel was supposed to
be baptized this past Saturday, but moved it to next Saturday because
she wanted the bishop to be able to be there. She is still being so
strong in not smoking, we are so proud of her! Her social anxiety
seems to have gone away as well; when we invited her to an activity at
church about a month ago she didn't know if she could because there
would be a lot of people there. This week we went to the chapel and
found her and her husband helping clean up after an event and talking
to all sorts of new people. We have seen such a change in both of
them! The bishop was there as well, so we asked him if he could do the
baptism. He thought about it for a moment then asked another man who
was there helping as well if he would like to do it. It was so
perfect, the man he asked was recently baptized a few years ago
himself, and has never been able to perform a baptism! He looked
nervous but excited and said he couldn't wait to tell his wife! That
strengthened my testimony that we are here to learn and grow and God
gives us so many opportunities to do just that in His gospel! God
entrusts us with responsibility to serve each other for our benefit! I
have learned that as long as we are seeking to follow God, and are
willing to follow where He asks us to go, He will guide, and show us
the way!
      This mission truly is helping me to grow closer to Jesus Christ
in so many ways. I am learning more about Him and the things he taught
during His ministry, and the church He established, as well as His
characteristics. I realize that I do not naturally possess those
characteristics, such as charity, virtue, knowledge, patience, and
humility; but I can pray for them! And with Christ's help I can start
to develop them. I will never be perfect, but I can strive each day to
be the daughter of God He knows I can be. We are studying and working
on a different attribute each week, this week I am working on virtue!
I need it 😊


     Sister Lopez turned 21 on Tuesday! Her stake president from
Mexico had a cake sent to her! 😊 it was so sweet! Then we had non
alcoholic Pima coladas to celebrate!

    This weekend was a cold rainy one! We were happy to get into our
warm dry beds on Saturday night!

   Hope you are all doing well and feeling my prayers for you! ❤️

Love,
Sister Kirkpatrick

Crazy news!!!

      Sister Lopez and I just got some crazy news!!! It is transfers
week! So every 6 weeks we will get a phone call to tell us weather or
not one or both of us will be going to new areas. She is training me
for the first twelve weeks so we assumed and hoped with everything in
us that we would stay together! We just got a phone call saying that
we will both be staying, but we will be getting a new sister! So we
will be in a trio instead of a companionship for at least 6 weeks! So
sister Lopez will be training 2 people and I  guess I will be a
trainer and a trainee! This adds a whole new dimension. On the one
hand, idk where we are going to put all of our things, and someone
will be on an air mattress, but on the other hand we will be
invincible! Haha we will be able to go into any home even if there is
only a single man home because there will be three of us! The Lord
knows exactly what He is doing, so I know it will be great!! 🙈😀
     Sister Lopez and I have had another great week! We have had so
many great lessons centered on the atonement of Jesus Christ! We have
been teaching Angel for awhile now, who has been trying to stop
smoking. We have done our best to center every principle we teach on
Christ and His atonement, but having a lesson with her solely on the
Atonement impacted her so much! I was able to share a quote by
president Hinckley from the talk "The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope" by
James E. Faust, with her, and I think it really struck a cord and
helped her understand what Christ has done for us, by taking our place
and paying for our sins. The next day we went back to see how she was
doing with not smoking, and she told us she was drawing the line. She
was really going to stop this time because she really wanted to take
the sacrament and    show Christ how much she cared about what He did
for her and be baptized! I have always known that you must be built on
a firm foundation of Christ, and how powerful the atonement is, but I
am continuing to learn that more and more on my mission. It is so
amazing to see the atonement working in the lives of others! She was
absolutely glowing when she showed up to church and told us not only
had she not smoked, but she had been around someone smoking and not
asked for one, and even been offered a cigarette and declined! There
is so much strength in the atonement!
     We had our next lesson with Cassius, the boy that I wrote to
you about last week. We were so excited because his mom told us that
he cried after we left last time because he felt the spirit so
strongly when he prayed. When we sat down for the lesson however, his
father told us we could teach him but he did not want us to talk about
the Book of Mormon. We were able to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ
still, but it strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon as
another testament of Jesus Christ, because for the first time I wasn't
allowed to share verses from it to testify of Christ, or give him a
copy to help him draw nearer to Christ. I love the Bible with all of
my heart, but I am also so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the
further light it sheds on the Savior and all that He has done for us.
The two are one in God's hand!


                          Our terrible cake we made for my two year anniversary being baptized!

 

The amazing quote on the atonement I shared with Angel!

 

  Katie Stewart who has been awesome in coming to our lessons with us!



 

 

Porky pine!

 

 And I had dinner with Elder Bishops cousin!!! It was so neat running
into her!!!

Love you all!
Sister Kirkpatrick

Update through pictures :)

   Sister Lopez and I have had a wonderful week! We have been busy,
which is good. This week we asked a sister who just came back from her
mission to go to a lesson with us, and it ended up falling through. We
went to our back up plan, and she agreed to go with us to see if they
were home. We knocked on the door of a woman who was raised in the
gospel but no longer attends church, who is married to a Muslim man.
She said they have always given their children the choice of how they
want to worship God, and have just tried to teach them correct
principles. She has another son who is studying to be a Protestant
minister! It is amazing to see so much love, tolerance, and acceptance
in one family. She told us she would talk to her younger son and see
if he was interested in talking to us, so we went to follow up. She
said he was sick and wasn't sure he was ready to meet with us, but he
came to the door, and agreed to watch our Easter video! After showing
it, seeing what he thought about it, and sharing some of our own
thoughts, he said a closing prayer, and we asked him if we could come
back and meet with him again, or if he wanted more time to think about
it like his mom had mentioned. Without hesitation he said, "I want you
to come back!", it was so sweet! We are excited to meet with him next
week!
      This week I learned that we can develop faith in a particular
principle, by first believing in Christ strongly enough to obey His
commandments. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." -John
7:17.
      As President Uchtdorf said, "As we increase in faith, we must
also increase in faithfulness." We won't be perfect, but we must do
our best by choosing each day to follow our Savior.
      Today marks two years since I was baptized. It is one of the
best decisions I have ever made, because it has drawn me closer to my
Savior and allowed me to have the constant companionship of the Holy
Ghost, and learn so much more from God!




These are the Tippets! My dad sent a new bike for me and Brother
Tippets (one of the ward mission leaders) assembled it! I am blessed
beyond belief! They are such amazing people, it is truly a sign of
God's love that they are in my first area, they do so much for us! We
got to watch the second session of general conference with them, and
they made fruit and cracker trays for us to snack on! Also they make
amazing malts! 😊