Sunday 16 March 2014

Dear Family,
For Sister Young’s birthday we went to the temple and had a wonderful time. I decided to fast the day before and it was a great trip. I learned a lot and we went with the Judds. It was a perfect day, the sky was clear and it was just great!
After the temple we had two lessons planned and one of them was Fred. For his lesson we mostly just reviewed since it has been 2 weeks since we saw him. Then we met with Jessica, a very, very less active. She’s been doing well with reading the Book of Mormon. She really likes getting to read it all the way through. The Judds, invited their friends to their home to take the lessons. We had a lesson with Debbie and her daughter, Erica and it went really great, the Spirit was really strong. These members are really great at being missionary-minded all the time. (The dad looks like Thor and his wife is the world champion for pole dancing – as a professional sport; it is really cool.) They have helped bring many people to the gospel over their lifetime.
We had a pinewood derby and us and the elders made a car that took second place. The best part though was that the VanDeventer boys came (part member, less active family we are working with) and they really enjoyed it which was great.
We have had some typical missionary weeks, we had lots of appointments fall through but we still did have some. We taught Jessica and Angelo the Plan of Salvation and they were really involved and ready to hear more. We also met with Crysta and taught her the Restoration (she is a new investigator) and she asked a lot of questions. She also came to a baptism and she got to meet the Stake President and he told her about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. We gave her a tour of the church and she really liked it and said that she would come to church on Sunday. It has been great working with her; she has a genuine interest in learning and putting herself into the Church. We found a really great potential; her name is Chedi from Nigeria. She is really nice and we gave her a Book of Mormon and are planning on meeting with her later to teach her.
Just a side note – I am now the zone’s seamstress; elders are bringing their pants to me to sew up holes that they get in them. It actually is quite funny considering that I have not done much sewing in my life; but, I am doing okay with this. We have also had some good rain storms in this area. We even had a few flash flood warnings and they really mean it; these are real! We were out two day while it was really raining and we got soaked. It was super fun though; I decided that I really like knocking in the rain – it makes me feel like I am actually accomplishing things.
We have had transfers and I am staying in Canyon Country but Sister Young is going. My new companion is Sister Alleman from Springville, Utah and she has been out for almost 5 months. I have another companion that is also struggling with depression. The first one went home and I sure hope she doesn’t go home too (especially with not with me.) This transfer will likely be a trial of my faith. The Lord has been preparing me and blessing me, but now is the time of the battle. A quote that I have on my wall here says, “The fight with sin is real. You have been called to lead thousands in the fight. You are on the front lines. Prepare yourself, and fight the good fight of faith.” Going to ‘battle’ can be scary sometimes, but I know that it is worth it in the end. I want everything to work out; so we’ll see what happens. Thank you so much for your support and all that you do for me. I have such a wonderful family!
Love
Kirstin