Arizona Week 76 - Talk to Everyone

Hello Everyone,

Not a whole lot happened this week; Elder Jacobson didn't feel well for a few days. But on Saturday our District Leader came on exchanges with me. We decided that we wanted to actually talk to every person we saw that day (something we are told to strive to do). Well we succeeded. There was not a single person that we didn't at least attempt to speak with. It came to a total of 62 persons.

Our investigator, Thomas, committed to a date for baptism! December 6th is what we are shooting for. He came to church this week and loved it. He's been doing really well.

We also were able to get in contact with a less active woman that has some children that haven't been baptized. We have an appointment with them tonight that we are excited about.

We're starting to decorate for Christmas. When we finish I'll send some pictures.

This email is a little boring but I don't have much else from this week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Kirk

Here are some pictures from our recent hiking trip:

Arizona Week 75 - Spider Web

Hi Everyone,

We've had a fairly eventful week. It's been fun. The dedication of the Phoenix Temple was yesterday. I really like temple dedications; I've been able to go to 2 on while on my mission.

An unfortunate thing happened while we were at the dedication. We got a call from one of our investigators. We haven't seen or spoken too to him before. He told us that he had finally gotten time off of work to go to church and was at the meeting house wondering why no one was there. It was pretty upsetting. Hopefully he can come next week. We felt so bad. 

So on Tuesday, we felt the need to do something that had never been done before. As we sat pondering what we might do, we recalled that we had a substantial amount of yarn for some reason. It was then that we decided to take the yarn and form a spider web in our bedroom.

The look on the faces of the other elders in our apartment was hilarious. I don't think they knew what to think. You just never know what might happen with Elder Jacobson and me.

Also this week, as we were walking to dinner, we had rocks thrown at us! Our would-be executioners did not have very good aim; fortunately, but it was exciting nonetheless.

We met with a long time inactive member at the public library because he is trying to get back into the church. He expressed his concerns, and we were doing our best to help him resolve them when an old, angry, bearded man at the table next to us decided to chime in with his opinion. He said that "salvation comes through Jesus Christ, not Joseph Smith," which we, of course, agreed with.  The fact that we agreed with him through him off for a second, but he then asked why we put Joseph Smith on the same level with Christ. We told him that this was not the case, but he insisted that it was. He said many more things such as "Joe Smith is dead, in the grave, never to rise again", and "What did Christ mean when He said, 'it is finished'? He answered his own question by saying that Christ meant that there would be no more prophets. Then he said, “Joe Smith called himself, he wasn't called of God." Then, the man we had originally come there to speak with ended it all by pleading with our attacker to give him an hour with us and then he could talk to us all he wanted. The man grumbled but remained quiet during the remainder of our visit. As we left, we offered him a copy of the Book of Mormon; he refused. Oh well.

I can't remember much else from this week but it was good. I'm down to the last 6 months, and I plan to make them good.

Take care everyone.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 74 - Baptism

Hey Everyone,

So things are still going great with the dream team, Elder Kirk and Elder Jacobson. We had a lot fun this week and a lot of great experiences.

We found some new investigators while walking around an apartment complex. They were talking back and forth for a little bit and then one of them yelled to us from across the way, "Are you Mormons?!"  To which we, of course, replied, "Yes!" "See I told you!" was their response.

So, we decided to go talk to them. They were hilarious. We had a very interesting conversation. It was obvious that one of them was very much under the influence of drugs. It turns out that they had received a copy of the Book of Mormon a few months back from missionaries in Central Phoenix. We were able to explain it to them, and we learned from them that they did not have a strong Christian background. They knew enough to say that "Mormons are the coolest kinds of Christians". We went and visited them later this past week. They are a lot of fun. Teaching them will be an uphill battle but they have potential.

We had a fun experience with a member at dinner this week. The grandmother of the family was very social and told us a story about a Saint Bernard that she used to own. Well, she went through the whole story and concluded by saying that she likes little dogs now. Then she said that she used to like big dogs and proceeded to tell the whole Saint Bernard story again in full detail. After about 8 consecutive run-throughs we were struggling to hold back laughter. She was a sweet lady and it was a lot of fun to talk to her.

Our Saturday was packed! In the morning, we were able to go through the temple with a woman that Elder Jacobson had baptized a year ago. It was her first time, and she loved it. Later that day we went back to my last area for the baptism of a mother and daughter that I had taught. Immediately after that, we went to Elder Jacobson's last area for the baptism of a lady that he had taught. We brought our investigator (the one we had taken to the temple open house) to both baptisms. It was a really fun night.

This week should go really well. We are getting excited for Thanksgiving. We have a member of the seventy coming to tour the mission. It should be really good.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 73 - "Yet Will I Not Forget Thee"

Hey Everyone,

This has been a great week! I love my companion!! Things go so well when you get along with a companion.

I don't recall much from this week, but we had one experience that I will never forget. We are both new to this area, so we are really trying to get acquainted with people and to get the work rolling forward. Furthermore, because we are really close friends, there is a common feeling among many that we won't get anything done. So that makes it all the more important that we work hard and make things happen.

While we were doing our weekly planning, we started to send text messages to all of the potential investigators in the area book to see if they would be interested in meeting with us. We got a good number of replies but one in particular stuck out. He told us that he was planning on going to church that Sunday and that he was also planning to go to the Phoenix Temple Open House the next day (last day it's open). We asked if he had a ride to the open house because we would love to take him. He said that he didn't have a ride yet, so we told him that we would find one for him. He was very grateful and said that we were an answer to his prayer.

Well, we went to the open house with him the next day, and we learned about what he meant by "an answer to his prayer". It turns out that he really wanted to go to the open house (he loved the open house in Gilbert and wanted to see the Phoenix temple also), but he didn't know how he could get there. He prayed and here is the exciting part, as he closed his prayer, he received our text message. After not having contact from missionaries (or anyone in the church) since April; he received our text after praying. He was blown away.

 We visited with him again on Sunday, and he really wants to get baptized before the dedication of the temple so that he can be able to view it. He remembers a great deal from when he was taught by missionaries in the past. He reads the church magazines and watches every General Conference. We are so grateful to have been able to be an answer to his prayers at this time.

In a way, he was an answer to our prayers as well. My companion and I have become fast friends. Our friendship has caused a little skepticism with some that we might not be able to do the Lord's work. This has caused us to have a great desire to do the Lord’s work well. We want Him to be proud of the work we do.

The Lord knows his children and although others may forget about someone, He never will. This man; a son of our Heavenly Father was lost from gaining further knowledge of the gospel for a time as the ward and the missionaries seemed to have forgotten him. But the Lord helped us to find him again. We are very happy. 

These next couple of months are going to go really well.

Love you all.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 72 - Kirk and Jacobson

Hey Everyone,

This week was transfers. I have been transferred again and am now in East Phoenix. My new companion is Elder Jacobson. You may recognize that name from a couple months ago. He was the Elder that I got along with really well. Yes, we're companions now. It's pretty much the best thing in the world! We're super excited to be able to work together, and we know we are going to have some really good success.

I was sad to leave the ward I was serving in, but I know I will be back to visit soon. There are a couple of people that I taught who have committed to get baptized. These two should be baptized on November 8th so that will be very exciting.

We get to go to the temple on Friday. It's a new mission tradition that we are starting: to go to the temple on Halloween night. What better way to celebrate the dead than to save their souls through temple ordinances?

The new area seems like it will be pretty good. We live with four other elders in a 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment. They are a fun bunch. I think that things will go very well here. I don't have any stories yet but with a companionship like this, we'll have some good stories to tell by next week.

I hope you all have a great Halloween.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 71 - Moved by the Spirit

Hello Everyone,

We had a great week. A ton of people came to church, and our Gospel Principles class was packed. Most of them are from one apartment complex, which happens to be one of the worst apartment complex for drugs, violence, etc.

One of the ladies we taught this week REALLY liked our lesson. We reviewed the restoration with a little object lesson involving cups. When we finished all she could say was "WOOOOWW...I never thought of it like that. That makes so much sense." She snapped a picture of it and said she wanted to show everyone at work and even asked us to make her a set of these cups, so she could really show people. She really liked it a lot.

Later this week, I went with one of the zone leaders for the day. After lunch, he decided that we were going to go to the home of some people that he had met recently and offer service. So, we grabbed some cleaning supplies and went over and cleaned the porch and the windows and the floor. They thought it was a little strange at first, but they were very appreciative when we finished. It's a 2 bedroom apartment that houses 10 adults and 3 or 4 children. You can imagine that it gets rather messy. Before we left, one of them, offered his service to us if we ever needed it. We told him about a stake service project this weekend, and he said that he would come and help.

The neatest experience this week came while we were knocking doors in an apartment complex. We had knocked on a couple and then decided that we were not in the right place; we needed to knock a different set of doors. So, we moved around the complex until we felt that it was right. The first door we knocked on was opened by a lady who used to be taught by missionaries. She didn't remember much but was willing to have missionaries teach her and her children again. The next door we knocked on turned out to be a less active man who had recently moved into the area with his wife and small daughter. It was great to be in a position where we could feel the promptings of the Spirit moving us to where we needed to be.

Experiences like this help me to remember that the Lord is in charge of the missionary work and all that happens in the church. I am merely an instrument that He can use to bless the lives of His other children. By allowing the Lord to work through me, I too am blessed.

I hope all of you are having fun making preparations for Halloween. Eat some candy for me.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 70 - Phoenix Temple and Kicking Pigeons

Hey Everyone,

This week has been really good. We were able to go to the Phoenix Temple Open House with a Lutheran Pastor from New York. My companion, Elder G, used to teach his mother, so he came down, and we all went to the temple. It is a very beautiful temple. They all enjoyed it a lot, and we did too. The pastor knows a great deal about the church and will likely join after he retires. We're going many more times with other people that we are teaching.

I hope that some of you were able to see Meet the Mormons. A couple that we are teaching went to see it, and they LOVED it! They really touches them that missionaries will leave their home to go teach and help other people like them. They are so grateful that we found them.

So, there are a ton of pigeons in our area. We set a goal, as a companionship, to kick a pigeon. Well, this week I met my goal. It was glorious.

This morning, we went to hike Camelback Mountain. It was a ton of fun. We ran down it (which was a little sketchy but it's OK). We're going again next week so that'll be a lot of fun.

I can't remember anything else right now. Hope you all have a great week.

Elder Kirk