Finalé

Well, this week has been full of courageous moments, since it's like, the last time I'll ever have the title of full-time missionary. I don't have much to say, but I do want to share this experience:

The past few nights have been of courage filled nights. Monday night we were tracting some, and it started to get dark, so we decided to walk back to the car. As we were walking back, a cute family was on a walk, but they were awkwardly too far to really say anything without being creepy and weird, so I decided to stop walking while I "looked" for the keys, so that they could catch up to us. They walked by, and we stopped them, but it was dark at this point, and so they were still kinda freaked out, and so we freaked out, and just gave them a family proclamation, and then sort of ran away, not asking for information or even asking if they'd be interested for us to come back.... and the minute I walked away I felt AWFUL. I KNEW we needed to ITL that family... at least give them the opportunity to hear about the restored gospel! But they were long gone at this point, and I doubted we'd see them again... well, I was wrong. We drove down the street, and there they were yet again... and all I could think was that we needed to get out and talk to them... but this time really talk to them.. not just a nonchalant "here's a pamphlet, bye!" kind of "talk". But truly talk of the restored truths I hold dear to my heart.... and so, Sister Stettler and I hurried and parked the car, walked right up to them, and stated the obvious. I said that we didn't mean to be awkward, that we felt really prompted by the Spirit to further talk to them, and that I truly feel from the bottom of my heart that our message can bless their family, and then we testified about eternal families. They were very gracious, said that they were already very active in a church, but they'd take our phone number and a copy of the Book of Mormon, and that they'd look into it. We got their names... The Hawks! and they gave us their phone number, and they said we could contact them to see how they liked the Book of Mormon..

It was the scariest thing ever! But also the most rewarding, and I know the Lord has softened their hearts, at least for that moment, and hopefully for future moments as well!

ALSO, conference was really good, and Elder Bednar's talk was my favorite.

The ripple effect is real. I love missionary work, and most of all I love the truths I've learned on my mission.. if you're worthy, and you are capable of serving a mission... don't pass the opportunity, because it's the BEST decision you could ever make...

I love my Savior. He has blessed me so much.

Love, Sister Kirkby

Even past the last door!

Wow, what a crazy week!

Saturday was a great day as we watched Sister Carey enter the waters of baptism! She was a member 50+ years ago, fell away, and then was found by missionaries here in Martinsville about a year ago. When I got here we started working with her regularly, and she was able to work with the bishop so that she could be baptized! It was such a neat experience, and I was so happy for her! Her sister was there, and it was something that she really needed to see, because she always asks the questions that the gospel answers. Hopefully this experience will push her to make the right decisions! Sister Ray was also at the baptism, and afterwards she gave Sister Carey a hug, and she said "That's what I need to do." YES. IT IS! She just needs to get her act together! Sometimes agency is hard, and the influence of Satan is even harder! But, we do what we can do, and leave the rest up to the Lord.

Saturday night we watched the women's broadcast with Sister Louya, ate mashed potatoes, and lots of salt water taffy, and it was awesome. I loved how basic the broadcast was..... best part about it (if you didn't watch it, go watch Elder Uchtdorfs talk, because then this will make sense) is the story that President Uchtdorf told about the missionaries who found his wife, it totally happened to Sister Stettler and I, where we were tracting this apartment complex, and we were not going to give up! We were determined to find someone to teach! But when we hit the last door, the lady was super hateful and yelled at us to go away, and that we were invading her privacy... so even at the last door, sometimes things won't happen the way you want it to, so you just gotta keep going... even past the last door! (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/fourth-floor-last-door?lang=eng)

So, today was incredible, because we got permission to go to the temple with our recent convert Brother Price, and with Sister Louya! Oh my goodness it was so good to be back in the temple again! It had been so long, and to be able to do the work for those who have passed on was incredible.... it was also incredible to witness Brother Price be baptized for his grandfather, and to see his excitement. When we left, we asked how he felt, and he said he felt content and peaceful, and that his heart was super full. I am so glad that we had the opportunity to go, especially since Satan tried really hard to keep us from going! That guy works too hard for nothing, haha!

Well, I reckon I only got one more week to fully dedicate myself to the Lord, so here we go! It's going to go by so fast, and next week will be a blur, and it probably won't even hit me until I am on the airplane, but that's alright with me, because I don't wanna dwell on it! I am focused on right here right now, because that's where the Lord wants me!

I'm encouraging all of you to watch conference this upcoming weekend! It's one of my most favorite weekends out of the whole year! I mean, people went through a lot so that we could have a prophet on the earth today! What a blessing...

Have a good week! I love y'all!

A Snake in the Tree

Hello!

This last week I got to spend a day in Roanoke, and it was so good to be back! I was so happy to see some of the people I used to teach, and it was seriously the best. I love Roanoke :)

We've had a good week in our beautiful area of Martinsville, aka the blessed land.

My testimony grew in being at the right place at the right time last week. We were in the library, and this lady started talking to Sister Stettler, and asked if we were really sisters. Sister Stettler gave a beautiful testimony of how we are all children of God, and that we are missionaries, and that's why we go by sister. This lady starts talking about how she and her fiance have been looking for a church, but they haven't felt like they've found truth yet. Sister Stettler continues to talk to her about the Book of Mormon, and this lady got really excited. We figured out that she lives right across the street from our bishop, and that they're actually really good neighbors to each other! We're really excited to start teaching her and her fiance in the members home, and I know that the Lord sent us there at the right time, because we actually weren't even going to go, originally. God sure does know more than we do! I'm also really proud with how Sister Stettler has grown. A month ago she would have freaked out if she was in that kind of situation, and would have just passed it along to me, but she owned it this time! I sure do love her, and am proud of the missionary she's becoming.

We also were walking around earlier this week, trying to find some new people to teach, and we see this couple staring up in a tree in their front yard. We asked if we could do anything for them, and the guy was like "no, it's all good. There's just a snake in the tree" and I was like.... wow cool. So then he started beating the thing with a broom, so that it would come down, and when it came down he trapped it in this garbage bag, and took it to the woods. We asked if we could come back to teach them when they're not trying to wrestle a snake, and he said that we could come back on Saturday, and we did. Come to find out, Friday night, his dad was put in his death bed, and the whole family is just waiting around for his dad to die of cancer, because there's nothing the doctors could do. We were able to offer some comfort, and we've been over a lot since then, just to make sure that they're all doing well, and to offer comfort. This man is super appreciative of it, and he keeps saying that when things calm down he'll take time to talk to us. I love how the Lord put us in His path at the right time, and I'm excited to teach him about eternal families and the Plan of Salvation. I know God has a plan!

our friend Sister Carey is still planning on getting baptized in a couple of weeks, and I am so excited! Right now Sister Stettler and I are working hard to find some new, solid people who are ready to make changes in their lives!

Quote of the week, offered by my beautiful cousin Lauren:

"Remember that one of Satan's strategies, especially with good people, is to whisper in their ears: "If you are not perfect, you are failing." This is one of his most effective deceptions but we should never be completely satisfied until we are perfect, we should recognize that God is pleased with every effort we make--no matter how faltering-- to better ourselves." 

- Elder Gerald N. Lund 

Super needed quote. Satan's working hard!

Have a good week!

Love, Sister Kirkby

Look Not Behind Thee

When you get down to the last few weeks of your mission, the desire to write detailed and super long emails grows less and less. I don't even really know what happened this week! Missionary work is just a lot of work, and we've been doing a lot of tracting. Sister Stettler is REALLY getting the hang of missionary work, and I am so proud of her!

Sister Carey is getting baptized on Sept 24th, and I can't wait! She is someone we've been working with for awhile now. YEARS ago she was excommunicated, and she's been trying to re-find truth ever since. A year ago the missionaries tracted into her, and they started working with her, and then for some reason they lost contact with her... then when I got here, we started working with her again, and she's been solid ever since! It's so awesome to see the process of repentance not only in my own life, but in the lives of others.

A few days ago, Sister S and I were on our morning run, and I had a cool experience as we were running. We're about 3/4ths of the way through our 2 miles, and we had to tackle this huge hill, that is basically like the last thing anyone wants to run ever. I told myself that I was going to run up the whole thing, and I wasn't going to stop. As I'm going up this hill, in my brain I'm giving myself a pep-talk: I WAS NOT going to give in! I can make it! Don't stop running! .... then I remember a squished frog I had seen on my way down the hill at the beginning of the run, and I was curious to see if it was still there. As I turned around to look for the frog... I found myself slowing down... then all of the sudden I was walking. What?! No! I wasn't going to walk up this hill? What just happened?

and then I related it to Lot's wife.

Genesis 19:

15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

In Luke 17:32 Christ warns "Remember Lot's wife."

Jeffery R Holland says: "It isn’t just that she looked back; she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future."

"So, as a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. Apparently she thought—fatally, as it turned out—that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind." (https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland_remember-lots-wife/)

We must always be looking towards the future in faith... we need to trust in the Lord's promised blessings, and learn from the things of our past... whether good or bad. Don't look to the past... you're not going that way!

Have a good week! Love you all!

Love, Sister Kirkby

Pics: Sister Stettler and I went to the museum for Labor Day! 14 million year old sloths make good friends

time flies

SO! I'm feeling a lot better, thank goodness!

These past 5 days have been good! We've been talking to a lot of people, trying to build our teaching pool back up! we had a lot of people drop us, and it was kinda sad, but probably necessary so that we can focus on the needs of others.

Friday night we helped on of our investigators, who can't read, learn the sounds of her letters. She knows her letters, and so we're trying to help her know the sounds, so that she can read from the Book of Mormon. She is such a cute lady, and I love her so much! She's been regularly coming to church, and now we gotta help her gain that testimony from the Book of Mormon! Since we taught her the sounds, she's been practicing a lot and is even reading some from the Book of Mormon!

We had stake conference this last weekend, and it was a lot of fun! We traveled to Roanoke to sing in the choir for the Saturday night session, and I was able to see a lot of old members from the Roanoke Ward.... it was really great to see some of them.

Our recent converts are doing really well! The Scales have some family members from the Dominican Republic living with them, and they only speak Spanish, but these family members wanted to learn more about our message, so we had a lesson with them, and Sister Scales translated the whole thing from English to Spanish, and it was really cool to still feel the Spirit, even though it was in a different language.

We've smelt apartment infested weed a lot this week, and have been knocking on a lot of doors.... holy cow it's sweaty and hot and gross and I still love it..... crazy what missionary work can do for a person :)

can you believe I'll only send 5 more emails? ...... TIME FLIES BY WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN.

Love, Sister Kirkby

TWO BAPTISMS!

Brother Scales and Brother Price both entered the waters of baptism on Saturday, and received the Holy Ghost on Sunday. It was an incredible weekend, with the Spirit so strong! I still can't get over how much both of these men, but mostly how much Brother Price has changed from when Sister Sorensen and I first found him. The gospel has LITERALLY changed his life, and the happiness and glow that is found within him is incredible... the temptation he faces, and avoids and conquers is a miracle, and he's almost read the whole Book of Mormon... He's in 3 Nephi last we talked to him. Saturday night  he prayed vocally for the first time ever (he's a very nervous man) and it was such a tender mercy to see this change work within him!

Both of these brothers are hungry for more! They are constantly learning, and are wanting to learn more! Next month they'll be going to the temple, and hopefully Sister Stettler and I will be able to go with them!

We also found out on Saturday that the excommunicated member that we've been working with, Sister Carey, has permission to be baptized!! She'll be baptized on Sept 24th... I am so happy for her. We've started teaching her sister, and the Book of Mormon has all the answers to the questions she's had for a long time... I just love that book!

I've been sick for the past two and a half days, and it really smacks, but you do what you gotta do, I reckon. My brain is running a million miles an hour, because all I wanna do is go out and work, especially with only six weeks left, but my body says "stay in bed." ugh, it's horrible... hopefully I'll be feeling better soon.

Sister Stettler is taking good care of me, and she's such a great friend. I love her so much.

well, I hope y'all have a good week... talk to you Monday!

Love, Sister Kirkby

Vegetarian homophobes or homophobic vegetarians?

So, we have two baptisms planned for Saturday, and I am so excited! Keep our investigators in your prayers, because they need it! Satan is throwing EVERYTHING he's got at them.. Hate that guy.

This week was good... one of our investigators almost dropped us because he thought we hated gay people and didn't eat meat, but we were able to clarify, and it's all good now.

Our investigators Sister R, who is SUPER awesome, and way elect finally came to church yesterday.... with like, 8 grand kids... it was awesome. She texted us the night before and said "well, I got a bunch of kids with me, but I've put this off for far too long, so we'll all be coming tomorrow morning!" and she made it! So proud of her, and I know the Lord will bless her. She's on date for September 10, and she's doing really well with living the word of wisdom.. .we just gotta get the law of chastity down, and she'll be good. :)

Since seeing Brother P and Brother S grow and change, and prepare for baptism this Saturday, I've been thinking about the power of the Atonement, and what it can do in ones life. Both of these men come from very different backgrounds. One is already very firm in his faith, and has now strengthened his rock in the Savior, and one started at square one when we first started meeting with him... no matter where these two were in their spirituality, the gospel changed both of them tremendously, and it can do the same for us... whether we're the relief society president, the bishop, a non member, or your average member, the Atonement can work miracles in your life. There's a quote from Preach My Gospel that I came accross this morning that I love

"Repentance and change will help people conquer challenges, rid themselves of shame and guilt, and experience the peace and joy of God’s forgiveness."

We ALL deserve these promised blessings, so don't forget to repent and change!

Love, Sister Kirkby