🙋🏻🙋🏻🙋🏻

This week has been another slower week as far as teaching goes, but
it's been good because we've been able to spend more time out meeting
new people! This week we focused on teaching on the spot, sharing our
testimonies when we meet people walking instead of asking if we can
come visit some time. We had a lot of really cool experiences! We
started talking to a girl sitting in the grass with a woman we know,
and she said "listen you don't wanna waste your time on me, I'm a
stripper" and I said "so? You're also a child of God and I know He
loves you so much!" She went on to tell us she was atheist and we were
crazy, but the more we talked to her the more she realized we were
humans haha and became more and more interested. She said "hang on, I
wanna hear this, I gotta go get some cigarettes and come back." So we
waited and ended up having a long conversation with her. We asked her
what made her happiest and she told us her daughter, so we related
that love to God's love for her and she let us leave a pamphlet on the
plan of salvation with her and our phone number! 😊

We met another woman and asked her if she was a member of the church,
and she said no, not yet. So we said you want to be? And she said yea!
Haha miracles all around! She told us of the experience she had
camping next to an LDS family, and how she just felt good vibes from
them and they invited her to participate in their family scripture
study, and that she wanted her family to be eternal too!

Also, last night we met a woman who hasn't been to church in 27 years.
She was really quite rude to us when we started to talk to her. She
said she didn't need us to share a message with her to know God. We
told her she was absolutely right. As we started to talk to her
husband who is a member of another faith, she began to soften, again,
realizing we actually were human, haha sometimes I wonder if wearing
this name tag puts a third eye on my forehead or something? They ended
up letting us sit down with them and share the message of the
restoration of the gospel. 😊 it was so amazing to see the change that
took place in her in such a short period of time!

1 Nephi 18:24 "And it came to pass that we did begin to till the
earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into
the earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it
came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were
blessed in abundance."

Right now we are spending a lot of time planting seeds, but I know
miracles are coming 😊

This week in my personal study I continued to feast on John. I am sure
I've said it before, but the New Testament is coming to life so much
more this time through; I feel like I'm watching a movie as I learn
from the Savior's perfect example! I love Him so much!

I love and miss you all!
Sister Kirkpatrick


Ps: pictures from hiking last week!

Hello!

Hey everyone!

This week has been a little slower as far as lessons go, but it was
still great! We went to the temple with one of the women we are
teaching and her son! It was a lot of fun, and still so fun to
experience so many firsts with sister Mallarme! Speaking of... We are
allowed to watch church movies, so last night we started to watch one
with sister Seal because we finished planning early, and sister
Mallarme said she wanted to cry, because it was the first time she was
able to watch a movie and understand what they were saying! They watch
movies in Micronesia all the time even though they are in English and
they can't understand. We take so much for granted here!!!! I am
grateful for the humbling experience of being her companion and
realizing that!

Also this week, we had a lesson with Jessica and her daughters. In the
past she would not read from or let us give her a Book of Mormon
because she said it made her have bad dreams. The last lesson we had
with her we explained to her that all good thoughts and feelings come
from God and bad ones do not. This time we shared 1 John 4 with her
about testing spirits, as well as the Mormon message "A Book of Mormon
Story". We asked her if we could leave a Book of Mormon with her and
she agreed! It was a huge step in the right direction. She said she
prayed to know if what we were sharing was true but hadn't received an
answer yet, so we invited her to read Alma 32 , about faith, and
promised that as she continued to seek, God would answer her!

I am continuing to learn more and more each day! We know sooooo little
of God's plan and His truth, but as we seek Him and guidance from the
Spirit, He pours out His great love and understanding on us freely! I
know He loves each one of you so much, and that Jesus Christ is our
Lord and Savior and wants to be so involved in our lives, if we will
only let Him!

Love,
Sister Kirkpatrick

5 months!!

So two exciting things happened this week! First, I got food poisoning
😷, that was fun... Then my mom got baptized!! 🎉❤️⛪️🙌🌊🛀🏻 I am
so happy and proud of her!!! I was able to watch it via Skype, it was
pretty blurry and quiet since it was on an iPad, but I am glad I got
to see it! I just keep seeing her going under the water over and over
😊  Her testimony is so much stronger than mine when I was baptized.
She is very close to the spirit and has had some amazing spiritual
witnesses along her journey!'She is the most amazing woman I know and
I am so grateful Heavenly Father sent me to her. I am so inspired by
her example!
      It was also exciting because Elder Jacklyn (that baptized my
mom) is from close by, so his family was able to come watch as well!
They are so sweet! I also had some of the people I've grown to love in
West Jordan come celebrate with me, although I don't know how much
they were able to see or hear haha 😕 anyways, highlight of my mission
thus far! 😊❤️
    We also had a man come to church this Sunday that hasn't been for
a long time. We started teaching his family and when we invited him to
come to church he said "yes, I'll be there!" without hesitation. He
said I really like your reasoning for coming to church, I'm coming to
take the sacrament and remember Christ, if I don't stay for anything
else, I'm coming for that. He is a man of his word, he came!
      I know that Jesus Christ loves each one of you so much! And He
led by perfect example when He was here on the earth. There isn't
anything He asks us to do that He hasn't done Himself. He has
commanded us to follow Him, and although we will never be able to do
that perfectly, He wants us to try! And to access His grace and mercy
through repentance that is only possible through His suffering and
sacrifice for us. I love Him more than I could ever show Him! ❤️🙌

Independence Day Update!!

We have been having so much fun this week getting on the roof of our
house to watch fireworks! It's so amazing because we can see so far
and there are like 5 different shows going off every night. It's only
legal here to set them off three days before and after the 4th so
people go nuts! It's sister Mallarme's first time seeing them and she
is so excited! 😊🎉

This morning we went to a pancake breakfast in the park and we are
getting ready to go watch a parade and then go to a carnival!! 😊 we
better not get transferred because we've got big plans! And I don't
want to leave! We have met so many amazing people this week!

We have started teaching the sweetest lady named Stephanie! She was
atheist until a couple of years ago so she is just starting to learn
about scriptures and Jesus, it is amazing!
And we started teaching a super sweet girl named Kayla last night! She
came to church yesterday first! 🎉🎉🎉

We have seen so many miracles this week! The one that stands out to me
most happened last night. We have been working with the Martin family
most of my time here. First Braiden was baptized and then his mom,
Angel, was baptized a month later. Angel's brother Aaron came to
Braiden's baptism for support but did not want to talk to us. He came
to Angel's baptism as well, and cried he felt the spirit so strongly,
but he still did not want to learn more from us. Last night we saw him
outside of their home and asked if there was anything we could do for
him. Through tears, he said "pray for me". We got off our bikes and
asked what we could pray for and had a very powerful prayer together,
I could feel the spirit so strongly! Before we left we invited him to
church, and he said he would be there, and he was! Angel said she
never thought the day would come when they would all be in church
together, it was so sweet!

This week in my personal study, I feasted on Luke 22-24. I have read
the New Testament a few times, but this time through it was so
powerful and real! I put myself in the shoes of the apostles and asked
how it is that I fall into the same behavior they did, as they slept
in the garden of gethsemane, and other instances in those chapters.
Our Savior's love and sacrifice for us is truly amazing. I am so
grateful and humbled at the opportunity to share that love with
others!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!!! 🎉🎉🎉

❤️ Sister Kirkpatrick

Pictures of people I ️