Arizona Week 88 - A Pleasant Surprise

Hello Everyone,

This week went well. I only really have one experience to share but it was likely the best experience I have had on my mission. 

On Friday, I received word that a family that I had taught in Mesa would be baptized the following day. This was very exciting, but short notice. Fortunately, we were able to find a ride.

The parents were married that very afternoon by the Bishop and then they and two of their 5 children were baptized (the other 3 aren't 8 yet).

When I arrived, I walked up to the Elders that are currently serving in that ward and asked who was baptizing them. They looked at me in a panic and said, "You are! Didn’t you get our message?!" I had not gotten the message but fortunately had come with a change of clothes.

I was able to baptize the father and mother and another Elder baptized the kids. It was really nice to talk to the husband in the changing room afterward and see how much he has grown in the past 6 months. One of the things he talked about was how he couldn't understand why everyone was trying to get them married. It didn't hit him until he heard about eternal marriage. Then, he noticed the happiness that sealed families had; he could see the difference, and he wanted it for his family. That was the turning point. He then saw marriage and baptism as steps toward an eternal family.

I was a little in shock hearing him bear his testimony to me. I have grown to love this family. I am so glad that they made the decision to be baptized. It fills me with joy that they see the purpose behind it and that they have their eyes set on being sealed in the temple.

I know that I have said it before but I want to again say that this is the reason that I am here as a missionary. It's not only to teach and to serve and to baptize and to activate. The goal that we have for everyone is to be sealed in the temple as a family: husband and wife, parents and children. That is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for. To help individuals and families live worthy of being sealed eternally in the temple. This is all possible because of the restoration of the Gospel and the Priesthood. I know that it is true. I have seen it change the lives of the people that I have taught and that, in turn, has changed my life.

I know that the priesthood is restored to the Earth and that through it we are able to be sealed to our families for eternity and receive the ordinances necessary to live with our Father in Heaven again. I know that the Savior lives. I know that the atonement that he made for each of us has power to cleanse us as we repent, and we can always repent. He loves us. I love Him. And I look forward to the day when I can see Him. I know that these things are true. This knowledge has blessed my life and the lives of countless others. Although I am far from perfection, I know that the Lord loves me as He loves all of His children. And He loves you.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 87 - Ward Conference

Hello Everyone,

This week went really well. Except that Thomas ditched on his baptismal interview. And the appointment we had later that week. And didn't go to the baptism of another person that he said he would go to, and didn't come to church. So Thomas is slipping backwards a bit.

But Cole Krawczyk had his baptismal interview on Sunday and passed! We are making plans for his baptism on the 28th of this month. They are an awesome family and the ward is really excited that we are working with them.

Sunday was Ward Conference. The Bishop and the Stake President spoke in Sacrament Meeting. The best part is...Anthony came to church! And he loved it. People were very nice to him, he fit right in. It took awhile to convince him to come to church, but he said to us that he would definitely come again next week. He is a great guy. 

When we visited with him earlier this week he gave us each a painting by numbers thing. It has been a lot of fun.

That's pretty much all for this week. Take care.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 86 - Not Much

Hey Everyone,

It’s been another one of those uneventful weeks. A lot of people cancelled appointments and skipped out on us and rescheduled. 

We do have a baptismal interview set up for Thomas on Tuesday this week. We'll see how it turns out. We have to keep an eye on him because during the past 12 years or so he has run away on the night before his baptism about 3 times. We hope that we can help him feel comfortable and confident about his baptism.

This coming week when we meet with the Krawczyk family we will be setting a baptismal date for Cole.

Everything seems to moving forward with the people we teach. Anthony is coming along well. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson this past week, and he really enjoyed it. He thought long and hard about whether he had ever received guidance from the Holy Ghost. He seemed pretty concerned at the possibility that he might not have. Recognizing the presence of the Holy Ghost at times in his life will help move him along.

Well that's it. Have a great week.

Elder Kirk

There is a picture of Elder Kirk and Elder Jacobson on the mission blog page. They sang at Christmas.

Arizona Week 85 - Bishop

Hey everyone,

I don't have much to say this week. It's been a good week though. A lot of people came to church. 

Earlier this week we had a conversation with our Bishop and he complimented us on being mature enough to teach the families that we are teaching. He said that we were a good a companionship for these people and that we are good for them. He said that there have been several missionaries that have come through the ward that haven’t been as capable. It was nice to receive a compliment like that from him. We don't get much positive attention because we share a ward with another set of missionaries. At least the Bishop knows that we are trying to do a good job.

Well, I'm back into the tech scene of the mission. I'm working on the mission's Facebook page with another missionary (he is in the mountains). It's fun to be able to be involved in all these things. We're trying to come up with some neat ideas for the page so keep looking to see if we put anything new up.

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

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 84 - Temple

Hey everyone,

This week was just the usual for most of it. The people we are teaching are making great progress. The Krawczyck family came to church for the second week in a row.

We set a baptismal date with another man we are teaching for the 28th of February.

Our investigator, Anthony, is still reading the Book of Mormon and is almost into 2 Nephi. He's is a really special guy that has a good heart. I hope that he will be baptized while we are here.

The highlight of the week was going to the temple with Harry Cruegar for his endowment. It was an interesting experience. It's been almost 2 years since I served in that area. Most everyone there had not the slightest idea of who I was. Most of them had forgotten and the ones that did remember me took a little time and some hints to recall. But that didn't matter because as I walked into the Celestial Room, I saw my friend, Harry, with tears in his eyes and the biggest smile I've ever seen on him. As I gave him a hug I was filled with joy. That is what it is all about: Gathering to the temple and receiving the ordinances and covenants that the Lord has for those who are worthy. I'm very excited to attend his sealing to his wife in the near future. For me, there isn't anything better than seeing someone that I helped bring into the gospel standing there in the temple of God.

That's all I have to share this week. I hope you all are doing well.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 83 - Rats

Hey Everyone,

This was a fairly slow week, but we still had some good things happen.

This week we had a Zone Training Meeting. Elder Jacobson and I performed a vocal/guitar/ukulele duet of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. It went pretty well.

Also this week, I was able to attend a baptism from my last area for a man that I taught. There were a lot of missionaries there (he had been taught for a long time) but it went very well.

The Krawczyck family came to church this week. It was good to have them there and people were friendly to them.

A funny experience we had: So we were riding along on our bikes and we saw a little end table chilling on someone's lawn with a sign that said, "free." Now the dilemma begins: "How do we get this thing home?" Well we locked up the bikes (it's starting to rain by the way) and picked it up and walked about 2 blocks to the church and stashed it there so that we can pick it up later with the zone leaders. Pretty smart I thought. We must have looked pretty silly though. Anyway, we got there and the Spanish elders' car was there (not the Spanish elders we live with but other ones). Well, we decided to scare them, because that's what we do. So, we snuck over to the part of the church that they were at and slammed a door and flickered some lights and dropped a hymn book and scratched and banged on the walls near the chapel. Then we went and sat on one of the pews that (for some reason) was right behind a little wall that completely blocked the view of the pulpit. Dumb. Well now the elders were walking around with a flashlight whispering to each other. We waited for them to get close and then we screamed. I just wish that I could have seen their faces.  But we all laughed and went back to work.

Then this morning while we were shopping at Walmart, a drunk Native American man came and talked to us. He had peed himself. He was wearing sweats so you could see very definitive urine mark on the crotch area. Yuck. We gave him a pamphlet on the Word of Wisdom.

Not much else happened. We've been trying to contact our referrals like crazy but we keep getting more. We can't keep up with it.

Anyway, have a great week everyone!

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 82 - New Year

Hey Everyone,

Happy New Year!

It is such a relief to be done with all the holidays. The people we teach are coming back into town and everything is going back to normal.

The holidays were great though. We had a good New Years Eve. Our neighbor down stairs that had moved out said that we could break into her vacant apartment and take the couches that she had left.

Allow me to explain. About a month ago a member moved away, and they were going to throw away some couches. We said that we could give them to our downstairs neighbor who didn’t have couches. So they gave the couches to us to give to our downstairs neighbor. Now that the downstairs neighbor had moved out, she said that we could have the couches. It was pretty fun for me to pick the lock on the apartment because I got to use my lock picks on something other than a detached lock in my room. I got the lock open in less than 10 seconds. I know that when I have a place of my own that I will be buying much safer locks than you see on most homes.

New Years day we got together with another zone and played a ton of sports. It was pretty fun.

So last week we taught a guy that lives in a pretty rough neighborhood. He also looked like a pretty rough guy. Add to this that it was a drunk guy that told us to go see him. Not much for to go on for instilling confidence in the outcome of our visits. Well, last week we told him to read the beginning of The Book of Mormon up to 1 Nephi, Chapter 4. When we came by this past Saturday, he had read up to 1 Nephi, Chapter 8, and he knew what was going on. He had marked a few verses that he wanted to understand better. He told us that he "couldn't put it down." He said he reads it every night before going to bed, and he plans to read the whole book. To be honest, I was pretty surprised but also very happy. I expect that he will be joining the church through baptism in a month or so. Giving up smoking will probably be the hardest thing for him.

Well I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Kirk