Arizona Week 33 - Old 9

Hi Everyone,

It's been an interesting week. We dropped our truck off at the repair shop on Monday to get the door dent fixed (someone backed into the truck in November before I got here). We get quite a way back home (the shop is in Show Low), and they call to say that the key didn’t unlock the door. So we had to drive all the way back to give them the remote. We got home and then the time began where we had no transportation for ourselves. We spent the rest of that night hopping from person to person that could drive us around. The next day came, and we did the same thing. By Wednesday we found out that we would be without the truck until the following Thursday....It's going to be a long week...but then we decided to call the vehicle coordinator for the mission and whine to him for about 10 minutes. He finally decided to be merciful to us. So on Thursday, he came up the mountain with "Old 9." This is the truck that he's been using for the past few months. It's a Chevy Colorado like ours was but it is red instead of white. As he handed me the keys he looked me in the eye and said, "We just got it detailed and ready to sell. Be careful with it..." I stated that I understood and began to walk away when he called out again, "Be careful with it..." So we've been trying to be nice to Old 9 this week. 

The other day we got home and were getting ready for bed when my companion points out a spider on the wall. A big fat brown one! I must have the qualities of my mother because I was instantly filled with fear. I petition my companion for its immediate death. My companion gives the OK but expresses that he cannot kill a living thing...oh, brother. It is now up to me to climb on the chair with my shoe to squish this unwelcome intruder. Not knowing what kind of spider it was or what super powers it had, I was very cautious. Trying to keep as much of my body as far away as I could I swung my shoe and It SLAPS against the wall....just below the spider! A small shriek escapes me. He starts to crawl up the wall. Another swing! Again my shoe just misses but this time the spider falls off the wall onto the floor. Leaping from the chair I began to be in shock as he moves towards the door, I am unable to move. I realized that he would soon be protected by going under the threshold.  I violently began to beat the ground with my shoe to no avail. He found shelter. In a last ditch attempt, I sprayed Permethrin (bed bug repellant) around the door hoping that this would poison him. Sleep did not come easy for me that night. However, last night, we found him....in the garage. The same mistake was not going to be made twice. We weren't going to take any chances so we went upstairs to get the owner of the house to kill it. As a side note, the man mentioned that his wife had heard our…scratch that…MY screams the night of the incident.

The work is going well here though. One of our wards is going to have a fast for missionary work that will last 40 days. This will definitely bring the needed work to the area. Also, the whole stake will be fasting for snow on the 2nd of February so if you find that you have run out of things to pray for, ask for Arizona's White Mountains to get snow. I don't feel like getting evacuated in the summer when the fires start.

I hope you all have a great week

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 32 Mountain Life

Hey Everyone,

It's been fun up here in the mountains. Things are fairly different here. It's quieter and cleaner and colder. I'm enjoying it though. There's a lot more to do here. The place that we stay in (the garage apartment) is newly made so all the junk left over from the construction was still in the front of it. We decided to help out the man whose home we live at so the three of us started cleaning it up one morning. This didn't last too long though because he soon asked if we knew about the zipline that went through his backyard. It isn’t his zipline but it does go on part of his lot. So, we decided to test it out. We learned, after we all crashed at the bottom that this zipline was designed for children that weigh much less than we do. We also learned about how stopping at the end is supposed to happen. There is a tire at the bottom that we now know is meant to be slid up on the cable so that it will be a more gradual stop. The way we had it, we were basically hitting directly into a bracket behind the tire. It was a good time though and we did end up finishing the job we started. Over the course of the cleanup, we found 6 mice living in the pile...only 1 got away. Natural instinct took over at the discovery of the infestation because this poor family had been finding droppings throughout their house. I hope that we contributed to the solution.       





 Our garage apartment. 















The view out the front door.

The town here is pretty neat. There are some cool little shops and everything is mountain themed country stuff so I'm really enjoying it. I bought a little knife at a shop here that I think gives a good indicator of what the area is like. 

We're hoping to take a family that we are teaching to the Gilbert Temple Open House. It will be a really good experience for them because they want to be sealed in the temple.

It's a little different to be in the middle of nowhere. We rarely see other missionaries. But on the upside, when we finish planning for the following day, we can go to sleep. When you live with other missionaries, you stay up till the very last minute. 

Just for fun!

I'm having a great time here. Hopefully it will snow soon. People are getting worried about how dry it is. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 31 - Road Trip

Hey Everyone,

So, I'm sure I mentioned that we were going to have a special tri mission conference where the Apostle, Elder Holland was going to visit us. This was going to happen in Mesa, so we began the 4 hour drive on Friday afternoon planning to stay with missionaries down there. No sooner had we begun to leave than our zone leaders called to ask if we had a way to get there and to inform us that Elder Holland had been given a special assignment and would not be with us at the conference but would be replaced by Elder Wright of the Seventy. I know Elder Wright from the time I served in his ward in Mesa. I was, of course, disappointed that we would not see Elder Holland but I knew that Elder Wright would do a great job as well. 

The drive down went smoothly, and we arrived safely. We spent the night in my last apartment with good ol' Elder Davis. It was very fun. My companion spoke in a Dutch type accent for the night and fooled all the Elders in the apartment to thinking that he was from Holland. 

The meeting was wonderful. There were great testimonies shared and Elder Wright did a wonderful job. I felt bad for him because at one point he paused and said, "No one is more disappointed that Elder Holland isn't here...than me." You could tell that it was a shock to him when he was asked to fill in for an Apostle. I was able to see many of the missionaries from my MTC district that landed in the Mesa mission so that was a treat. 

The drive back went well also. We arrived late Saturday night and now it's back to work. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Kirk

P.S. While they were gathered for the Mission Conference, they took a picture of the entire mission. Elder Kirk is in the back row in the center next to the elder in sunglasses.

Arizona Week 30 - Five Forests

Hello Everyone,

Transfers were this week. I have been moved to the Pinetop area in the White Mountains. I'm sad to leave the area in Mesa. I had made good friendships with many of them. Nevertheless, the Lord has a task for me to complete here, and I will work hard to do it. My new companion, Elder Burggraaf, is from Alpine, Utah. He got into the mission a transfer after I did. He's a really nice guy, and I think that we'll work well together. 

Before leaving Mesa, I was able to help out a family that hopes to be sealed in the temple. We've become close with them. The missionaries in that area will soon move into the same apartment complex that they are and so will be their neighbors. We helped clean and organize the garage attached to their apartment. It used to be the maintenance shed and so it was full of all sorts of random junk. The whole job took about 4 hours and it looked dang good when we got done. They had their baby boy blessed on Sunday, and we were able to participate in the blessing. 

Elder Davis was pretty upset that I wouldn't be in the same apartment as him up until he goes home. We had become really good friends over the past few months. 

Transfer day went smoothly. I got pretty much everything packed up. In my new area, we will be driving a truck instead of a car or being on bicycles.  I have been assigned as the driver of our Chevy Colorado. Also, we have a quasi smart phone because the other phones don't get enough service in the mountains. 

The drive up to my new area was so pretty. I didn't realize that Arizona actually has trees. It took about 3-4 hours to get here. Of interest, we drove through five National Forests on the way here. We live in a garage that has been converted into a studio apartment. It is 40 degrees outside and there are little patches of snow around where we live. I'm excited to be here and to have a new opportunity to serve in another area. 

I hope you all have a good new year and that you accomplish the things that you want to. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Kirk

A Letter From a Sister in Elder Kirk's Ward

Here's a photo of some people you know!  Elder Watson and Elder Kirk have been serving in our ward for the past few months and have done a terrific job.  Not a pair that wastes any time,they have been so good at putting all the puzzle pieces together - who is related to whom (many of us), whose home this couple now lives in and remembering names, faces and relationships. They have worked well together and have had a good measure of success.  Most of all, they have motivated us as ward members to join in the great gathering that is spreading across the world!


They have been quick to lend a hand to those who need it and look for ways they could serve others.  Yesterday, they picked bags and bags of citrus from some member's trees and planned to deliver them to some of those who have been listening to their message.  When many weren't home, they came to our
house and spent some time juicing, learning to section a grapefruit and
make orange "cupcakes."  (A skill they'll be certain to show you when they get home.)



We love these elders and are so grateful for their consecrated service to the people in our ward and most especially to our Heavenly Father.  As parents, you should be very proud of them and the work they are doing.  They are representing you and your family well.  However, we are sad to see Elder Kirk go up north and leave the "true" ward.  He he he :)