Arizona Week 11 - Lights...Camera...Sign

Hey everyone,

This week was very busy. We've had to put a lot of effort into the projects that the mission president gave us. We've been taking a lot of pictures and doing a lot of filming. Well I don't do the filming but I've been taking behind the scenes pictures. Today, we’re going to record the audio for the one Elder's rap and the narration for the ASL video. It's likely that yours truly will be providing the voice of Joseph Smith in this video so keep your ears open when the video goes onto the mission's blog. We've been having so much fun doing all of this though. I've built a lot of good relationships with the missionaries here, and we're having a great time working together.

We had a really good training meeting as a zone this week. Our zone leaders are such inspired missionaries. I'm so grateful to be able to work with them and learn from them.

After the meeting, one of the Sister missionaries said we should take a quick photo as a zone. We were starting to set the timers on the cameras when someone had the grand idea to have this woman that was in the building take the photo. She must have been a professional by the way she was acting (more so she thought she was a professional). This picture took at least 10 minutes to take. And I sometimes exaggerate things like that but this time I'm not. It seriously took over 10 minutes, ask anyone in the zone. It was ridiculous. And there's one missionary that just smiles so big, it totally fits his personality, but the woman said, "Wipe that dorky smile off your face; just calm down. We want this picture to look good." It was one of the worst pictures I've ever been in. But now we just have another story to joke about with each other. "Remember that zone pic?" It was an experience.

I also got to attend a baptism for the Spanish branch on Saturday (it's a long story to really explain why I was there). But I had to been asked to sing with a few other missionaries there for the baptism...the baptism that I was told would be done in English...I was shocked to hear that it was actually going to be done in Spanish...but then it was clarified that we would be singing in English. False alarm. It was really great to participate in that though. There's an interesting Spirit that one feels when a service is in a different language. I really enjoy opportunities like that.

It's been a really fun week though. I love you all and miss you all. Talk to you next week.

Elder Kirk

Elder Van Meeteren filming with his DSLR, Elder Clark filming with a GoPro, Elder Sessions holding a poster to bounce light, Elder Quiner signing the first vision

Same but with Elder Vete signing the lead in to the first vision

Brother Call taking photos of Elder Faughnan for the workout

Elder Quiner found some pants on the ground. He titled this one "O, Jerusalem"

Elder Sessions and me, behind the scenes photographers.

Musicians Daryl Williams and Christina LesueurRecording voice-over

With the sound board 

Arizona Week 10 - Lift

Hey everyone,

Another good week here in Phoenix. Still pretty dang hot but it's not in the 120s anymore, so that's good. We've been staying pretty busy. I'm too excited about telling this story to think of anything else so I'll just get it out of the way.

So, we had just started to study for the morning and got a phone call from the Spanish Elders. They asked what appointments we had that day. We told them we didn't have anything until 3, so they asked us for a ride to one of their member's homes for some service...and if we could help them that would be great. We were told that it would be moving some boxes. That wasn't entirely accurate. We drove up and saw that this man had 2 very large trucks with roll doors in the back. One was slightly smaller and had rails lining the top of it. There was already a large assortment of things on top of the rail truck. First off, we tossed a mattress on top of that truck followed by 2 plywood slabs. The man then said a few things in Spanish that left the other Elders speechless. My companion and I shared faces of confusion and the man, realizing our confusion, pointed at a clothes dryer, then towards the top of the truck and said "alli arriba". Now we were speechless as well. One of the other Elders climbed on top of the truck by way of the 10 ft ladder. The 3 of us on the ground began to hoist it over our heads. Now, being that my companion and I are fairly tall, and the third missionary helping us was not, we found some difficulty added once we surpassed the extent of his reach. Some way, still unknown to us, the dryer was now nestled atop the mattress on the truck. Mission accomplished, or so we thought. The man then points to the washing machine...if you aren't aware, these are quite a bit heavier than dryers. I decided to join the one missionary already on the truck. On the ground, my companion says, "they should put straps or handles on these so they're easier to move." The man heard "strap" and left to return with a tow strap that was then wrapped around the washing machine. The opposite end was thrown to us on the truck...so we pulled, and they lifted, and once again we accomplished this task without realizing how. We continued to load the top of the truck until the two of us on the truck were perched on the railings having nowhere else to stand. Thankfully we did not fall.

We had interviews with the Mission President on Wednesday, and he asked me how my training was going and if I felt like I was learning and making progress. Once I told him I was he asked what I thought about me training someone...he expressed a need for missionaries that can train others because of the large number that are coming in. So, I may have to train a new missionary next transfer. It is a little frightening to think about but if I'm asked to then I know I'll be able to do it.

Overall I've had a really good week. Things have gone smooth and I'm really enjoying being here.

I love and miss you all,

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 9 - Milk

Hi everybody,

 

Another week has come and gone and I'm still pressing forward. It's a little harder now with only the one ward especially because it had less investigators than the other ward. Anyway, it's a nicer area of town so people aren't so keen to listen (or be outside for that matter). The key for this ward is going to be the members but the members haven't completely grasped that yet. We're still nudging them along though and eventually they will see how important they are and things will pick up.

 

As for events of this week, we will start on Monday, just after we emailed. We had a member take us to Costco, and we were very excited. That is, until I realized it was the end of the month, and I had not but $17. That does not afford many purchases in a Costco. We went about, and I selected essentials that I needed. Realizing I had roughly $12 left to spend I was excited upon finding a box with a cost of $11 which contained 66 beef taquitos. This of course would have lasted me over a month. I was content with this choice until I made a new discovery a few minutes later; a 5 lb. tub of Tollhouse Cookie dough (for $3 less). A great battle ensued within my heart and mind as is to be expected.

And I've had fresh baked cookies every night since.

 

No regrets.

 

On a similar note, Elder Harris had to buy milk, but they only came in packs of 2 gallons. He alone was to drink this milk. And it is no more. Two gallons were consumed in under one week. That's just impressive. (This isn't the only reason for the title of this week’s email)

 

This is:

We brought a member with us to a lesson for the first time. It was with a man that had decided to be baptized on August 17th (he since has decided not to, and I'll let you know how that pans out over the future weeks). We knocked on the door and his 4 year old daughter answered. She proceeded to tell us that her dad wasn't there and neither was her mom, and she wouldn't tell them we had dropped by or ask them to call us suffixing (that's probably not a word) every answer with "you doofs". She then goes inside telling us to leave. Before I could shut the door all the way, she returned with a plastic mixing spoon with which she began to beat at my legs. This kind of behavior from her is expected from past experience but the specifics of her actions are always surprising. (Examples of past encounters: screamed at, called garbage, legs clawed at, punched in crotch, kicked, etc.) As we began to leave she called out that she would go get her dad because he was actually there "you doofs". Later, while we were inside, she was drinking milk out of an animal shaped cup with a straw. She filled her mouth with milk and walked menacingly towards me. By my actions, I somehow convinced her to pass by like the destroying angel, as did my companion. However, the actions taken by the member were not as convincing. and she spat the milk all over his suit pants...and casually strolled off. I don't think that member will be coming to a lesson with us any time soon...

 

As for good occurrences, we were taking a different member to a lesson with us. On the way, we were telling him who the person was and all the rest. Turns out, he knows the girl. She and his daughter had been best friends in the past. She was very excited to see him again and the lesson went really well.

 

I hope you all are doing well and I look forward to talking again.

 

Much Love,

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 8 - Change of Pace

Hello Everyone,

Things are finally starting to settle down after transfers. My companion and I are getting used to the way the other works and are getting the meshing of teaching styles down now. The apartment is really fun with 4 Elders, but we get work done so don't worry. We learned on Friday that the number of missionaries in this Stake was not just a result of more missionaries coming, but was at the request of the leaders of the Stake to have this many. We've been bringing this up in Ward Council now. We tell them that they asked for us to be here, so they need to decide on how they will use us. We are trying to make a transition in our ward. Instead of us planning for people to visit and dragging members out with us, we want the members to take us to the people they would like to visit. We are here to assist them, not the other way around. The Ward Council is on board with this idea and is going to put effort in to accomplish it. We plan to see great success from this.

This week I received a letter in the mail from Sister Munger's CTR 5 class. They all drew me pictures and had Sister Munger write what they wanted to say to me on the picture. I would say my favorite one was a drawing that had a little girl and a cloud and some crazy yellow lines in the background. The caption read, "This is me..and some lightning. Have a good week." That little picture ensured that I had a good week. It was fun to hear about the kids excitement about learning the gospel. Sister Munger said they really liked the story of Abinadi, so I did my best to repay them with my own drawing of Abinadi.

My companion has been asked by the mission president's wife to make some videos for the mission's blog including some missionaries performing some gospel rap that he wrote and our zone leaders doing the first vision in sign language. I don't know how nice she wants these to be but Elder Clark and I both have the mentality of doing something to the full capacity. So that's what we're going to do. 

Funny story: we drove down to the mission office to meet with Sister Sweeney about these videos and asked if we could get some extra miles for making the trip. She said that we could, of course, and we asked about getting reimbursed miles for driving down for transfers (we were told to drive down for transfers but they ended up not doing anything with our car). She asked if we were supposed to have gotten a new car. We weren't sure but assumed we weren't going to. She then asked if we wanted a new car. Duh! We want a new car. So she's thinking about taking ours (because she doesn't want one of the new ones) and giving us one of the brand new cars. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, things are going really well and I'm excited about the changes that are happening. The work is moving forward and I invite you all to join in. I love you all and I will talk to you again next week.

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 7 - Transfers

Hey everyone,

So this week was transfer week aaaannnndddd.......I got mini-transferred. (I coined that phrase). I didn't move, but I have a new companion and now I only cover the Granite Reef ward. So Elder Morden and I had our area split, both got new companions, and were each assigned to one of the two wards we had previously covered. You're probably thinking to yourselves, "but they had a car, where did it end up?" That's a very good question everyone. I have it (because our area is bigger, and we live farther away). I'm obviously very pleased with this. But then again, we are the only companionship of Elders that has a car in our area...and everyone wants a ride to places. This will be a challenge that will need to be figured out but all will be well.

We added many new missionaries to our zone family. Prior to transfers, we had 9 companionships of elders and 1 companionship of sisters. We now have, 8 of elders and 3 of sisters. Every ward in our stake has at least 1 companionship assigned to it alone. The work surely is hastening on, and I'm very blessed to be a part of it. We all are.

My new companion's name is Elder Clark. He is from Washington State and has been out for 8 months. This will only be his second area. If you don't know about missions, it's unusual that he would stay in that one place for so long. No matter though, I'm looking forward to working with him. He's VERY in tune with the spirit and seeks spiritual guidance in all that he does. I can tell that we will change many hearts together.

So we now have 4 Elders in our apartment (Elder Clark and me, and Elder Morden and Elder Harris). It's a little more crowded than usual but it should be pretty fun.

I got to see some of the missionaries that were in my MTC district and that was very fun. Many of the sisters that were in the MTC with me (who have not finished being trained) are now training new sisters. I have full faith that they will be able to grow much quicker and that those they train will be extremely good missionaries.

I'm really looking forward to how much the work is going to progress in these coming weeks and months. It's good to be a missionary.

Love you all,

Elder Kirk

Arizona Week 6 - Found

Hello everyone,

This was a long week but I had some neat experiences. I find it so fun when a person finds the Gospel to be "familiar" because we have heard it all before. One of my MTC teachers said "we aren't “teachers” but we are “reminders”". It's so true. Here's an example:

Whenever we talk about the Priesthood, we talk about it as power and authority. We use those two words together every time. One guy we've been teaching for a while (whom we have never talked about the priesthood with) said that he knows God has a job for him and he doesn't know what it is. He went on to say that he feels like he can't do it yet until he receives some higher power and authority.

It's amazing how many people we find that are looking for something, they aren't what it is or where to find it, but they know they need it and they want it desperately.

More news on Harry (the one who got baptized last week) he was praying about how he can better prepare himself for the priesthood and was prompted to read in the Book of Mormon. The scripture he read talked about giving alms to those in need, and he had the feeling that he needed to share this great gift he recently received. Next time he saw us, he asked if he could come with us for a day to teach people. We're of course very excited for this.

We had a zone training meeting and many rules were changed, eliminated, and added. There are new dress standards being enforced. One thing that changed about it is the elimination of backpacks while proselytizing (with the exception of camelback types for bicycle areas in the summer months). We now must use one strap shoulder bags. We are now allowed to use the video feature on our cameras. This is of course is in preparation for the arrival of Facebook accounts. Also, my mission is allowing the possession of musical instruments now. Things are moving forward quickly and by the end of this month, every ward in our stake should have its own set of missionaries.

As missionaries, we still find time to have fun. We play sports most mornings and have invented our own version of Quiditch. This was inspired by the fact that when the basketball hoops are raised up in the gyms, the hoop is vertical like a Quiditch ring. We've been playing for a few weeks and, not to boast in my own strength, but I'm pretty darn good at it. This has earned me the nickname among the others as "Wizard.” The most recent time we played, they brought me a broom that they wrote "Nimbus 2000" on and a Santa hat with stars drawn on it in marker. So yes, we have fun too.

I think my favorite experience of this week happened on Saturday. We were on our way to our dinner appointment and there was a man working on his car in front of his house (which neighbored the home of our member that would feed us that night). We took the time to ask if he needed help. He declined the need for help but was impressed by us young men sharing the gospel with people. We talked for a while but he was uncomfortable speaking English (he's from Romania). When he discovered that we were Mormons he said that there was a Mormon living with his family, and they take care of him. He talked about the man watching General Conference every time it's on and that he, himself, enjoys it as well. We were invited inside to speak with the member. The man had many health problems, the most prominent being paralysis. You should have seen his eyes light up as he said, " You...you're Mormon Missionaries!" After speaking for a while, we learned that he had been excommunicated for 20 or more years. He was extremely repentant and was near tears as he said, "I don't want to come back. I NEED to come back!" He told us that he didn't know what to do to come back and that he had been praying for someone to come find him. And find him we did. It brings great joy to be the answer to the prayer of another person. I love being here and I love the things I do and see. The many miracles that occur around me confirm my faith and testimony.

I love you all and I'll talk to you again in 1 week.

Elder Kirk

The Paradise Valley Zone

Devin with the Paradise Valley Zone



This zone serves central Scottsdale – From L to R and Front to Back – Sister Crowell, Sister Schneider, Sister Sweeney, President Sweeney, Elder Davis, Elder Kirk, Elder Hemi; 2nd Row – Elder Stockdale, Elder Sessions, Elder Soto, Elder Van Meetern; Elder Ostlie, Elder Russell, Elder Broomhead, Elder McNabb, Elder Swanson, Elder Wood, Elder Quiner, Elder Lomu, Elder Beers, Elder Vete, Elder Morden