Arizona Week 94 - Spoken by the Spirit

Hello Everyone,

This week went very well. A lot of less active members came to church again. Many of them have been coming for several consecutive weeks now. It's nice to see them returning.

We helped with the garden again this week. Our assignment was to fill in some holes with dirt. We loaded up the wheelbarrow full of dirt but when we went to lift it, the handle snapped off and dirt spilled everywhere. We decided to make smaller loads after that. It was a little embarrassing, but we got over it.

We had another lesson with Laurie this week. We decided to talk about Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I really enjoy teaching her. She is able to make connections between what we teach her and what she has been raised knowing in the Catholic Church.

As we talked about baptism and a little about the sacrament she would say things such as, "I have never thought of baptism like that. It's much more of a commitment than I ever realized." She said similar things about the sacrament and about not realizing what it meant.

I've heard it said that you can know when the Spirit speaks through you because you will learn something. I always feel like I learn something when I teach her. For this week, I gained a greater appreciation for the sacrament.

We explained to her that someone can take the sacrament as an outward expression but not understand the commitment involved or not be willing to accept that commitment. I realized that then that the Lord, of course, knows our hearts and that when I stand before Him I want to be able to say that I took the sacrament with a sincere heart every week.

I can only imagine the feeling that would come from realizing that I was not sincere and that I was only doing it as, essentially, a show. It means much more than that and we should treat it thus.

At the end of our lesson, we invited her to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority, to make that commitment and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Although she decided to not commit to this at this time, she expressed that we had given her a lot to think about and that had given her the best lesson she had ever received. We look forward to meeting with her again this week.

I hope you all will have a great week.

Elder Kirk

Added by Elder Kirk's Mom:
I received a text during the week that included pictures of Elder Kirk and his companion and some KFC.




























He looks happy and healthy...what more could a mom ask for? :-D

Arizona Week 93 - Slow Week

Hello everyone,

I've probably had too many emails about slow weeks, but they are bound to happen from time to time I suppose.

This week we helped with a nonprofit thrift store moving to a new location. It was actually a good deal of fun. We were working with two older guys that have obviously been best friends for quite a while. They were an absolute hoot! It was fun to watch them mess with each other. We had a good time.

On Sunday a member that has been fellowshipping Laurie,  came to us and said that she called the night before and said that she was coming to church. Recall that Laurie is the one with the really strong catholic background who is terrified of how her family will react to her activities with the LDS church. She ended up not making it to church but the fact that she had made the decision to do so is a huge step for her. Even though she wasn't there, we are both very excited about the progress she is making.

Tomorrow will be our interviews and inspections, so we'll be getting our car cleaned up today in preparation. 

Not much else to talk about that I can remember. We have quite a bit set for this week though, so we are hoping to have some good lessons.

Have a great week.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 92 - Getting Familiar

Hello Everyone,

We had a good week. I'm starting to know the area better, and I'm remembering names. We had some good lessons this week and quite a bit has happened.

On Tuesday, we went to the temple as a zone. As these trips happen once every quarter I realized that this particular temple trip will be the last one of my mission. Afterward, we had a zone meeting that started much later than planned and went much longer than planned and threw everyone's schedules for the remainder of the evening. But that happens most of the time. 

We had a really nice lesson with Laurie. This was the first time I had met her. She grew up very active in the Catholic Church and has deep family roots in Catholicism. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and is really enjoying it but she is afraid of joining because of how her family would react; which is understandable. We've been taking members and recent converts that had Catholic backgrounds with us to our lessons with her. They have been a great help. This week we took Sister Romero. She answered many questions for Laurie about what it was like to convert and how her family reacted. At the end, Sister Romero gave her a copy of Our Search for Happiness by M. Russell Ballard. She shared that the book answered many of her questions and ultimately helped her make the decision to be baptized. It was really nice of her to do that, and we hope that this will help in Laurie's decision.

We had an exchange on Saturday so Elder Cox was with us. It was a pretty good day. We helped out at the garden again. I got sun burnt again, but we met a lot of great people and are really making a name for ourselves. People know us and know of our kindness. It's a lot of fun. And President Sweeney is really pleased with the results that we are already seeing and encourages us to continue. 

I'm really enjoying Payson. It's a neat little town.

I remembered my camera today so I'll attach some pictures.

Hope you all have a great week.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 91 - Service for Days

Hello Everyone,

This week was pretty busy, not so much with teaching, but with serving. At the end of the week we had spent a total of 18 hours in service. We helped with getting a load of firewood, cleaning out someone's home, and assisting at the community garden. Now we have burnt necks, which are really quite painful when they rub against a shirt collar.

So, we helped a man named Steve and his wife, Mardean, clean out the home that they are moving into. It was her mother’s home, and she passed away. There was a good amount of clutter that needed to be organized or thrown away. We went over a couple times this week to help out. They are a great couple, very kind. They actually gave us a couch that they didn't need so that we could have one in our apartment.

Well, the last time that we were over there we invited them to church. They were happy for the invitation. They said that they had talked about going but weren't sure if that was allowed. They told us that they would be going this upcoming Sunday, so we are going to visit them this week to tell them about what to expect. 

We've been working with a couple other families as well (I'm still trying to learn everyone's name). So far I love this area, and I'm really excited to be serving here. 

That's all I have for this week. Take care.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 90 - Fairwell

Hello Everyone,

This was a pretty eventful week.

On Saturday, Cole Krawczyk got baptized! It was a really nice service. His mother, who is returning to the church after years of inactivity, spoke on baptism and did a wonderful job. The decorations were very nice and there were refreshments that were all color coordinated. She went all out with this baptism. It was a great way to finish our service in that ward.

Then on Sunday night, we took Elder Jacobson to the mission office. When and elder is leaving the mission, they have a dinner which includes all the missionaries that are finishing their missions. Following dinner, they have a family home evening of sorts. Typically, I would have just dropped Elder Jacobson off and leave but the mission president's wife likes to make up little reasons to give me perks. This time, her reason was for me to help out the mission secretary with pictures that were to be given to the departing missionaries. After a few minutes it was easy to see that she didn't really need my help at all, and I was then told to go to the dinner and the family home evening. It was nice of them to let me go to the special evening and be able to say goodbye to Elder Jacobson. 

On Tuesday, we had our transfer meeting. I have been transferred to Payson to be companions with Elder Watts. He is from Salt Lake. It seems to me that we will get along nicely. We have a nice apartment for the two of us, and we have a car. I'm excited to serve here. I truly prefer the more rural mountain areas rather than the busy cities in the valley. So today I'll just be settling in and getting to know the area. My camera is still packed, but I'll send pictures next week.

Elder Kirk