Ups and Downs...

Hello!

I don't have much to report. This week was a slow week, and a lot of people have decided not to meet with us, but I know that it's all in the Lords timing, and that there are people ready to hear the gospel. We just gotta find them! We are planning another missionary fireside at the end of March that will be really cool. We've already started inviting people, and we hope that members will bring friends so that it allows for a good finding opportunity. Another thing I've really grown a testimony in is family home evening. We've been teaching families on how to hold a FHE, and it's brought a lot of blessings to our area.

I want everyone to go to the website discover.mormon.org ! It is seriously the COOLEST website, and super interactive! It goes through different beliefs mormons have, and it allows for better understanding of where we come from.

Well, I love you all so much! By this time next week I'll know if I'm staying in Fairmont or not... I'll probably be staying though, because I've been here for 6 months... I've almost been out a year. Time is weird.

Birthday cake and Sister Miller...

Hello everyone! Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! Y'all are the best :) I had a good day, even though it's awkward to have all the attention on me. Usually, as a missionary, you're really used to serving others that you don't have time to think about yourself.

Our friend E didn't get baptized. He's taken a few steps backward, but it's fine, because I know the Lord has a plan for him. He's back on track, so keep praying for him! I probably won't see him baptized, because transfers are coming up, and I've been in Fairmont for so long, even though I NEVER want to leave Fairmont.

Sister Marsh is so awesome, and I love her so much. she surprised me on Sunday by having a member bake me a cake for my birthday. It's kinda weird to think that I'm 1/4th through my life... also, my year mark is coming up. That's weird. Time flies too fast.

Missionary work is the best thing in the whole entire world. I love being a missionary, and I never want to stop. I can't wait to go home and be the member missionary we are all called to be. I know that as long as I love the Lord, my actions will reflect as I am His servant. 

well, this email is kinda short... Sorry about it. Nothing much happened this week, so hopefully next week will be a good one!

love, Sister Kirkby

The Lord's Hand

Miracle week:

• A media referral turned into the most prepared person ever.
• A part member family is so ready to come back to church and to be baptized after moving into our area.
• A family with whom we've been visiting with for about 5 months committed to live the Word of Wisdom.
• A young girl about our age saw God's hand in her life and reached out to us for help and understanding.
• Our friend E came to church and has had lots of concerns resolved.

and lots more but I just can't think of them. We were able to help E with a lot of concerns this week. He feels that there is no need for law, or for commandments, and that we're saved by grace, and by grace alone, but we know that commandments are necessary. We have a test here in this life, and the following the commandments is how we get an A++. He told us that HE feels that this isn't the path for him, and we basically told him to stop thinking about what he wants, but to line his will with Gods. We committed him to keep reading and praying, because we know that this is the Lords will. He accepted, and was still willing to prepare for baptism on the 20th. For our next lesson we met him at the church, and unknowingly he had food poisoning during our whole lesson. haha, he probably was feeling miserable, but it was an INCREDIBLE lesson. We taught a lot about choice, and about how our choice is the only thing that can get in the way of God's will. He had a lot of good things to say, and he seemed to really understand. We asked him what he feels the Lord wants for him, and he said "After the chapter I read last night in Alma 30, and after our lesson tonight, my heart is softening." He really liked Alma 30, talking about Korihor, because Korihor 's choice got in the way of the Lord's will. We committed him to come to church with a question, and promised him that his question would be answered as he came to church. He worked two night shifts in a row, and still came to church. It was awesome. The speakers talked all about the temple, and afterwards, E said his question had been answered, but he didn't elaborate.... He was like "okay, well I'm really tired, so I'm going to head home and sleep" and we were like "wait so um, Saturday? your baptism?" and he was like "well, this week is really busy, because of my interview in Pittsburg, so I'll keep praying about it, and you contact me in the middle of the week." and I just looked at him and said "You're going to give me a heart attack!!!!" and he just laughed.........The thing is, he know's it's true, he's just making it a lot more complicated than it needs to be. We know he'll be baptized this Saturday, and it's going to be the fastest baptism process of my whole life, but so worth it. :) Keep us in your prayers, and keep E in your prayers!

I love seeing the Lord's hand in my life so strongly. I know He is here for me, and I know He's blessing my family back home. I love all of you! I hope you've had a good Valentines Day!

Did You Think to Pray?

Wow. What a week.

Our friend E stressed us out BIG time. Long story short: we didn't get to see him all week. We had stayed in contact with him via text, and followed up with his studies. He said they had been slow... so that was also worrying us, because we knew he hadn't been receiving the spiritual upliftment that is necessary for conversion... since it's so close to his baptism date, we panicked a little bit. Sunday morning rolls around, and long story short we felt that E wasn't going to make it to church, but we fasted for him, and had the faith that the Lord would provide. The opening song was Did You Think to Pray and I just decided to pray because I was just really really upset for a lot of reasons. I'm praying to Heavenly Father, with so many doubts in my mind, and as I'm talking with the Lord, someone plops down next to me. I open my eyes, and look over, and say oh, hi E.... and THEN MY BRAIN REGISTERED THAT E WAS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ME IN CHURCH!  I don't think I've ever been more happy in my whole entire life than at that moment. It was so awesome, and I KNEW God was listening. This week has been full of miracles, and I love how aware the Lord is.

Also, I had a miracle day on exchanges with Sister Robinson this week. I was in Morgantown with her, and we found 6 new investigators... in 4 HOURS.... IT'S HARD TO GET 6 NEW IN ONE WEEK LET ALONE 4 HOURS. The sisters had set a goal of 5 new investigators the night before, that were VERY faith filled, and Sister Robinson and I did EVERYTHING we could to hit that goal, and the Lord SERIOUSLY provided. I love what obedience does for us, and I love that we were able to be diligent, and hold onto the faith filled goal. It was so awesome...

Sister Marsh and I have learned a lot about doing the hard things. My dad would be proud of the conclusion we came to, because he is all about how hard things are good... and they are. Sometimes we're quick to take the easy way out of missionary work, but when we put in a little more effort, it's so worth it, and the Lord will provide so much more. We've also learned that we can't be in a check box mode through out life. Every thing we do has to be lead with power. If we just do things because we are told to do them, then we won't be converted to the gospel, and the gospel is what is the center of our lives. It should ALWAYS be a priority, because the eternal perspective opens up more doors.

I love this gospel so much, and I want it to bless everyone's life. I hope you all have a good week, and don't forget to read your scriptures, because that's how we truly stay converted

1 Nephi 8

--
Love, Sister Kirkby
888 Oakwood Rd
STE 310
Charleston, WV
25314

love and happiness

Hello everyone!

Glad to report that the friend I mentioned in my last email, we'll call him E, is on date for baptism on Feb 20th! After the lesson when he told us that he wasn't ready for baptism, we studied, and prayed hard on how we could help him. We taught a really powerful lesson Wednesday evening, and committed him to faithfully pick a date, so that he may find answers. Goals are so important, because it helps us know what we need to do in order to make it to the said goal. I'm so glad E is showing faith in our Savoir, and that he is willing to do what it takes to find those answers, and to follow Christ.

One thing I've really learned as we've been teaching E is about how the gospel was put on the earth to HELP us. Our Heavenly Father wants us to return to Him. His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He has given us SO many things (commandments, scriptures, church meetings, family, friends, missionaries, ward leaders, prophets, etc etc...) for the sole purpose to help us get back to Him again. THAT'S how much He loves us.... and that's a lot of love. :)

Happy February! Time goes by too fast! I love all of you... stay out of trouble :)

Love, Sister Kirkby

the post with the star wars

6 months in Fairmont? Okay! I won't complain! Sister Marsh and I are staying here together for another transfer everybody! YES. I am SO happy! I love this area, and I love how much I've seen it grow. The Lord's work is seriously in motion here in this beautiful place.

We had a really neat experience with an investigator this last week. We've been working with him for awhile now, and he is seriously SO awesome. Our last meeting, we taught all about baptism, and the why behind the ordinance, and the Spirit was seriously so strong... probably the strongest I've ever felt in a lesson. He had expressed that he wants to follow Christ over and over again, so at one point I looked him straight in the eye and said "E, you desire to follow the Savior, so will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" The silence was powerful. You could have cut the Spirit with a knife, it was so thick. He sat there for probably a minute, and then said "not yet." my heart broke in that instant... and then he looked me straight in the eye and said "but don't give up". So I'm taking that and running with it. We're still working with the Holy Ghost to discover what his concerns are, so pray for him!

Friday started the snow apocalypses here in the east. Don't know how many of you heard about it, but it was pretty crazy. We got 27in in Fairmont. It started at about 1 on Friday, and didn't end until about Sunday morning. We were told not to drive on Saturday, so we stayed in for the most part of the day. We also shoveled a lot of snow in our neighborhood. The roads are still pretty bad, and there's no place to put the stuff. Basically I've never seen so much snow in my life, and both of my parents would pack up and move if they lived in this stuff. It's fun/dirty/annoying/cold/ I just don't like it at all. They use "cinder" on the roads, which basically just turns the snow into an ugly black color and it looks gross, but at least we're safe! Good thing my mom sent me some pretty solid snow boots, so my feet stay warm and dry! :)

We had our last Star Wars district meeting this week, because the elder who's the Star Wars nut is getting transferred. Basically the Book of Mormon is the weapon we use to fight off Satan AKA a lightsaber 

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Kirkby

wherefore didst thou doubt?

Hello!

Transfers are coming up next week, and I hope I say in Fairmont. I've learned a lot being here, and it has a special place in my heart. The people I've met have changed my life, and I feel so blessed to be a missionary. :)

This week was pretty good. It's gotten really really cold, but not as cold as it is in my cousin Amanda's mission... buurrrrrr (-30?!) We're scheduled to get 2ft of snow on Friday, and last week it snowed a little bit too. The worst part about the snow out here is that it freezes right after it's done falling, so the roads turn into pure sheets of ice. We have a hill right next to our house that we tried to drive up, but it wasn't a very smart idea, because once we ALMOST got to the top, we started spinning out... Sis Marsh stops the car, and I get out to back her down the hill. She releases the brake, and literally slides down the hill. super fast. She's sliding, tires aren't even turning, and I'm running after her as she screams "SISTER KIRKBY! SISTER KIRKBY!" I guess the Spirit won out and told her to put the car in drive, and it helped a bit. She stopped, we parked the car, and didn't drive the rest of the night. It was, y'know, an adventure I guess.

This week in sacrament meeting we're singing with the elders, and so we've been practicing for that. It's really great to bring the Spirit into the room though music. Often Sister Marsh and I will sing during lessons, especially when the Spirit is missing, and I love the power that it brings.

Usually on Monday nights we eat dinner at the Bishops house, but last night they didn't sign up, and we were kinda bummed out, but it was whatever. We set some plans to follow up with some potential investigators, and I was just not feeling it at all. Sister Marsh has taught me a lot about faith lately, and as I prayed to have more faith like her, we knocked on a family's door we met a few weeks ago. Immediately they opened up, and they are SO elect. They have a 13 year old daughter who might as well be in her late 20's when it comes to spiritual maturity. They've gone through a lot, and they asked all the right questions that the gospel can answer. It was a miracle, and I love how faith is what brings about miracles.

We had a district meeting this past week where an elder related faith to Star Wars. He's a star wars junkie, and so he told the story of when Luke had to go to the degaba(sp?) system to learn from Yoda about the force. He crashes, and Yoda tells him to use the force to get his x-wing from out of the swamp. Luke starts to succeed, but when he opens his eyes, and after he hears R2 freak out, he looses FAITH and gives up. he then tells Yoda that he's expect to do the impossible, and Yoda chastises him, and asks why he doubts? We read in Matt 14: 25-31 essentially the same story where Peter walks on water. Peter does the Lords will, and walks out to meet him, and succeeds for a little while, but when he sees the waters raging, he looses hope and faith, and starts to sink. My favorite is how Christ reaches out immediately to help, but also asks why he's doubted. The Lord is always here for us, but we need to have FAITH in order to see MIRACLES happen. I want to challenge all of you to exercise a little bit more faith so that you can see miracles happen in your lives.

I love you all so much! Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Love, Sister Kirkby