I know why I'm in YSA!!!!

The reason is Maddy!!!

This has been an amazing week of miracles!! Maddy being the most
amazing miracle!

So Tuesday night we met Maddy! She is dating someone who served a
mission, and we went to see if they were home and they were! The
family is so awesome! The parents are both converts and have adopted
all 6 of their kids, they're amazing!!! The first little bit that we
were there we talked very casually about missions and our experience
with missionaries inviting us to baptism and how we said no at first
and all kinds of stuff! Haha it was great but I thought, "man, how are
we going to switch gears and have a lesson, let alone invite her to
baptism today?!" Haha but I was sitting close to her and just asked
while everyone was talking "so I know we're talking pretty casually
about all of this mission stuff, but have you met with missionaries
before?" And she said no, so I asked if we could share the lessons
with her and she said please!!! I was floored! So excited! And then
after sharing the restoration, I asked if she would pray about being
baptized, and be baptized March 18th if she got her answer, and she
said yes!!!! It was so great!
Then when we got home she texted and said she couldn't wait until our
next lesson Saturday!!! We were so happy!!! Then the next morning we
saw that she texted us at 11 after we were asleep and she said "so how
will I know if God answers me?" And we texted back a long text about
the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 and how all good comes
from God, and suggested she watch the patterns of light videos. And
before we ever heard back from her, her boyfriend sent us screen shots
of her text messages later that night. To make a long story short, she
prayed for 20 minutes and got her answer!!! She felt the spirit and
God's love so strongly, she said she knows it's true and she's never
felt happier in her life!!! It strengthened my testimony of how aware
God is of us!!
So fast forward to Saturday, we aren't sure what changed, but her
boyfriend didn't want her to meet with us 😱 so he took her on a date,
we were all bummed because we'd been looking forward to it all week.
And Sunday morning she came to church all by herself!!! And she stayed
all 3 hours! She basically doesn't have support from anyone at this
point in what she's doing, but she knows it's right, and she is so
strong!!! I love her so much! We are meeting with her today at noon 😊

We also met Ryan! He wants to be baptized as well!! He said he went to
church with coworkers in Missouri for 6 months and they taught him,
and he wanted to be baptized, he just never got around to it! Haha so
he came to church this Sunday and is working towards being baptized
march 12th! He even asked what scriptures he could read to prepare for
baptism! He's awesome!!

It's been a great week! I am learning a lot about humility, and
recognizing that this work really has nothing to do with me. It all
happens in the Lord's perfect timing, and I just want to be a vessel
He can work through, to completely forget myself and say and do what
He would have me do to bring others closer to Him!

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!


❤Sister Kirkpatrick

Devastation is...

When you write an email for 30 min and it disappears 😭😭😭

So sorry but this won't be near as detailed 🤷🏻‍♀️

Basically, this week I was sick most of the week, I went on 2
exchanges back to back with Sister Mallarme and sister Hudgens ❤ and
we met two pretty cool people!

Saturday night we contacted a referral, a guy named Mike! He told us
he didn't believe in God and he wasn't interested, but I said please,
just give us one chance and if you don't like what we have to say we
won't come back. So he agreed and we had a prayer on his front porch
and then shared our testimonies of God's love, I poured my soul out
about how my relationship with Jesus has changed my life, and he still
wasn't interested 😩 but I asked what he had to lose and he realized
he had nothing to lose so he agreed to read the scriptures and pray!
We're going back Tuesday to see how it went 😊

Second miracle, we met the sweetest guy ever, Masaki, he's from Japan
and will only be here until Thursday but we're going to try to see him
every day until then. We shared the plan of salvation with him last
night, and 3 guys who served their missions in Japan came to translate
for us! It was so amazing hearing it in another language! It was so
powerful realizing how beautifully simple God's plan is, and so
humbling to see someone who has no concept of God hear it for the
first time!! It made me so grateful and really not take my
relationship with God or my savior for granted! At the end of the
lesson he said "I want to go to heaven!!" It was so cute! And he said
he's going to pray to know if God is there! 🎉🎉🎉 we are meeting with
him again in half an hour!!! 🎉🎉

Love you all and hope you have a great week!
Email me 😊

Sister Kirkpatrick

Crazy week! 😂🙌🏽

It has been an interesting week! We've gotten to meet a lot of people! 

So first, on Monday night we met two men who don't believe in God. The first was the man you see in his car on FaceTime haha, we stopped to talk to him in his car, and he is very familiar with missionaries, so he thought it was funny we were stopping to talk to him and he wanted to FaceTime his friend who goes to church haha! He doesn't live in our area but we had a good conversation with him! 

The second guy, Troy, we've been able to see a few times this week. When we met him he told us on the door step he wasn't interested, but after we talked a little he invited us in and told us how he doesn't believe in God, and as we shared our testimonies with Him, and how much having a relationship with Jesus Christ has blessed our lives, he kept asking us how it's helped us, and we would tell him, and he would say how else has it helped you? He is searching for God! He doesn't realize it but he is! It was a huge blessing for me to have that experience because it made me think, and it strengthened my faith as I thought back on all the ways I've truly seen God working in my life! 

We also met a crazy guy! Haha someone told us he wanted a Book of Mormon, so we went to give him one and brought someone from church with us to meet with him. He told us he had just moved here because he got a job promotion, so we asked where he worked and he said "do you know Ralph Lauren?" And we said yeah, and he said (with other word choice) "I'm a butt model." So matter of factly! The girl that was with us said you're a what? And he repeated himself and I just started busting out laughing! I couldn't take him seriously haha I didn't believe him, so he laughed too and told us he works for UPS!  anyways we went on to have the lesson and it went really well he seemed to be really seeking truth, but at the end of the lesson, idk what happened, but it was like a flip switched and he went nuts! He was yelling all kinds of crazy stuff and then he was like "I'm gonna read the Book, it's not true, but I'm gonna read it, but I don't think we should talk anymore..." haha we weren't sure what to do so we told him what time church started in case he wanted to come, and asked if we could leave with a prayer, and he said no! So we just awkwardly got up and put our coats on and told him it was nice to meet him and left! 

We met some other people this week who were pretty cool too! I'll save their stories for once we get to know them a little more!   

I went on exchanges with sister McCarter this week, it was cool because we came out the same time but we have never served around each other, we hit our 1 year mark this week! 

This Sunday was one of the best!! First of all, Dakota got his patriarchal blessing, so exciting!!! I got to see him at a mission fireside last night, Brad Wilcox came to speak on grace, and it was so good!!! Here are a few quick highlights from my notes! ⬇️ also, Elder Ballard, one of the twelve apostles came to speak to us in church for the YSA stake conference, it was so good! He is very down to earth, it felt like a grandpa talking to his grandkids, he is so funny! One of the things he told us is when we have questions, to make sure we're going to the right source for answers (God) he said we've become to dependent on google, like we're trying to google our way to the celestial kingdom  

Grace

• How we are invited to engage with God
• enables us to grow & change our character
• Grace can be evident in our lives, even when tender mercies and answers to prayers aren't 
• It's the Power that allows the atonement to have a continuous impact on our lives
• Our flaws or inadequacies turn us to the Lord, help us rely on Him
• Changes our focus to be more Christ centered(and we are so much HAPPIER when our focus is on Jesus)

• Strength too easily won is not strength and change without challenge is not change 
• Grace is not waiting for us to change, it is the power to change

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! 

 Sister Kirkpatrick 

P.S. the pictures are supposed to be fishers of men haha! 

Transferred to YSA!!!

So this is my transfer shirt haha! Here are some pictures of the "see
ya laters" ❤ it is always hard leaving people you love so much, but I
wouldn't trade my time with them for anything, my faith has grown
because of them and I am grateful for all of the eternal friends I've
gained! 😊🙌🏽

There is also a picture of my new companion Sister Fossum! She's
awesome!! 😊 Her dad is in the army so she's moved all over, but most
recently came from San Antonio Texas! She was a dental assistant
before so she's teaching me how to take better care of my teeth :)
she's been here 5 months, so she knows the area, which is nice!

We don't have very many people to teach here, but we are working hard
to find some!! I sort of feel like I'm starting my mission over since
I am learning how YSA (young single adults) works! We have a lot
bigger area but we can only teach people between the ages of 18-30
that aren't married. It's been fun though! We had a ward prayer last
night where a lot of people in the Ward came to someone's house to
pray together, it was so cool!

The YSA Ward covers the family Ward that I was just in, so I saw some
familiar faces in church in one of the wards on Sunday, which was nice
😊
It's hard starting over, but I know it will become comfortable soon
enough and we will see miracles as we work hard to spread the good
news of our Savior Jesus Christ 🤗❤🙌🏽🙏🏽

I know that God loves us so much, and He is so very aware of
everything we go through. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus
Christ in my life, simply because it strengthens my relationship with
Him, it helps me to realize my worth, as a daughter of God. It brings
true and lasting joy in this life! And the gift of repentance is the
biggest blessing ever, because of Christ's sacrifice for us, we are
never too far gone, and He remembers our sins no more! His love is so
amazing!

I love and miss you all!
Sister Kirkpatrick

Waiting on transfer calls 🙊

And they take FOREVER!!!

Anyways, it was a good week! We had so much fun with Amy and the crew
😊 she invited us all over for an amazing dinner this week! It was the
best, I felt the spirit so strongly as everyone shared different
things going on and how they have seen God working in their lives, and
different miracles, it really did strengthen my faith in Christ! Amy
said that when we all knelt in prayer together she felt like we could
conquer the world, and I totally agree!
Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them."
It is so true!!! I know that Heavenly Father is so so so very aware of
each of us and the things that we go through. The power of prayer is
REAL! And He wants to be involved in every detail of our lives, even
the things we think don't matter to Him, they really do because we
matter to Him!

And DAKOTA SCHEDULED HIS PATRIARCHAL BLESSING!!! I'm so beyond excited
for him! It has been the coolest thing ever to be able to see him go
through such a spiritual journey in so little time! He truly has the
gift of faith! He has put in time with God, reading, praying, coming
to church.. and it shows! He told us he can feel the spirit a lot more
now! 😊 it really does strengthen my faith and I am so exited to be
able to watch his progression, he's going to make an excellent
missionary!
And we just love the Lebaron family, if I get transferred I'm really
going to miss them! They feel like family to us, we had a lot of fun
with them last night, it's really nice to have people you can just let
your guard down around!

So last night we met with JB, a man in the Samoan Ward who, when we
met him 3 weeks ago, didn't believe in Jesus Christ. He has grown so
much so quickly, it's amazing! Last night he told us that this week he
has been praying a lot and thinking about his faith and that he has
started to understand how Jesus is our savior, and that he feels like
he is starting to develop a relationship with Him!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 best
feeling ever to hear someone say that!!! The last meeting with him I
felt the spirit so strongly, and I wasn't sure if he felt it like I
did, but this week he told us that our last lesson helped him the most
and he feels like he understands God's love more and where He's going
after this life, and it matters more to him now! Missionary work is
the biggest blessing ever! ❤ and its only because of Jesus! 🙌🏽

We had a really great lesson with Hannah Sarah, and Rachel this week
too. Maddie  wasn't there, so we just started to work on the girls
personal progress, we started on faith, and read in Hebrews together,
I felt such peace as we saw what different people have gone through
for Christ's name through out time, and we talked about how following
Christ isn't easy, but it is so worth it, and He has already overcome
death, and He will help us in all things as we lean on Him! ❤🙏🏽🙌🏽

We also got to meet with Martin this week! He's got a lot of trials
going on in his life right now, but he is such a good guy, and I can
see the light of Christ in him. He loves reading the scriptures! He
shared an experience with us where he said after he was able to stop
smoking, he decided he was going to go to church and pay a fast
offering as thanks for God's help in allowing him to overcome it, and
he said it felt like Jesus was sitting next to him in church! I
believe it!!!

We met with Jacque again this week, she is so sweet and has the cutest
kids! But They didn't make it to church :( I have hope that she will
next week though!
And we loved meeting with the Saena family again this week, they sat
with us in church, and karson, the oldest is such a good kid, he was
reading the scriptures the whole time that someone was speaking in
Samoan haha!
We finally got to sit down with Kyle this week! He says he still has
faith in Christ he just hasn't been to church since he was 17, he was
so nice!!

The best part about serving a mission is the people, I wouldn't trade
these relationships I have formed for anything! They are so special,
because Jesus is at the center of them! I know He loves us so much!!!
More than we can ever imagine, and the more time we spend with Him,
the closer we get, and the more we want to tell others about His
incredible love!

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!!

Love,
Sister Kirkpatrick

Last week of the transfer!

It's been a week with a lot of ups and downs! So I'll share the highlights 😊

We met a new Samoan/Tongan family on Monday, they were so nice! The
kids were all baptized but haven't had the after baptism lessons, so
we started to teach them those, and their mom said she would be
baptized as well! It was really exciting!

Tuesday we went to temple square with the Saena Family, who are work
to get there and be sealed as a family forever this year! 😊 they have
the cutest kids!!! And another baby on the way, but you can't tell!
Haha we had so much fun riding trax with them!!

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Burgos, it was fun!

Friday I got to spend time with Sister Casagranda going to
accountability! I love and miss that girl so much! I pray we get to be
companions again before it's over, we had so much fun together!!

Saturday it dumped a foot of snow, so we spent about 6 hours walking
around and helping shovel since most of our lessons cancelled, but it
was amazing! We met a lot of new people and had amazing gospel
conversations while we shoveled! We met a couple people who weren't
sure they believed in God, while we were shoveling with another man
were teaching, and the man we are teaching piped right up and helped
testify to his neighbors, it was amazing! I learned a lot & it is my
absolute favorite thing, to have the opportunity to tell people that I
know they have a Father in Heaven who loves them very much and is so
aware of them!! 🙌🏽

Sunday Dakota got his temple recommend  and his patriarchal blessing
recommend! 🎉🎉🎉
We talked a lot about patriarchal blessings and he is so excited!!! He
is probably the most prepared person I've had the chance to know, he
is so diligent about reading and coming to church each week, he spent
3 hours at church, then an hour with us, then met with the bishop,
then stayed even longer to help shovel the sidewalks! Blows me away!

And last but not least, I love getting to see Sister Lopez at the
store!!! She goes home in a week 😥 I am so thankful for the time I
had to learn from her, she truly did shape my mission 😊

Also, Brother Masters, my Ward mission leader from West Jordan, is now
a full time missionary! We saw him at the store too! Haha

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week and know how much
Jesus Loves you, and how much Heavenly Father loves you, to send His
only begotten Son!

John 3:16-17 ❤
16 ¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved.