Hello friends! Welcome! I'm glad you've stumbled here :)
My name is Mary Kirkpatrick. I'm from a small town in Idaho, born and raised. I love my home and family, which includes my loving parents, 8 half-siblings, 9 nieces and nephews and a large extended family. I'm a bookworm, musician, and artist with a slight wedding obsession ;)
My parents raised me as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When I was teen, my faith was challenged by doubt, temptation, and negative emotions. I found strength through release-time Seminary, where I studied the "standard works" of my religion, including the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I was blessed to live in a community and go to a school with so many faithful youth who showed me what it meant to have the light of Christ and how to live by faith. I found out for myself through prayer that God loves me, I am His daughter with divine potential, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Heavenly Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ to sacrifice and die for me, and that His work cannot be delayed now that His prophet Joseph Smith has restored His true Church in this day.
This faith has built a strong foundation for me, and I seek to do His will.
For me, I know that God's will for me is to serve Him in the Scotland/Ireland Mission.
This is not a choice I take lightly. It has come from months, even years of contemplation and prayer. I'm choosing to serve for the following reasons:
1. God's personal revelation to me. Through a sacred blessing I received, it was revealed to me that I could do my part in serving God and fulfilling my commitment to my covenants with Him by serving a mission. I have thus known that God has a purpose and plan for me, and that, even though a mission isn't for every young woman, it is for me.
2. My mother's service in Hong Kong. My mother was a LDS (Mormon) missionary in the Hong Kong, China mission when she was about 22. Her experiences and trials and triumphs inspired me as a small child to have a desire to serve. Yes, when I was younger, it was because I wanted to travel. But today, her experiences have taught me that I too can be an instrument in the Lord's hands to bring forth his work and his glory, to bring His children unto Him.
3. Friends and Family's Service. I have four cousins who for the last 4 years have all been out in the field serving all over the world. From St. George, Utah to Praia, Cape Verde. In the last year and a half, I have also had so many friends and peers that I've looked up to as they made righteous choices to sacrifice home, family, money, and education to prepare and serve Heavenly Father. Their righteous examples inspire me, and it has shown me how Heavenly Father is hastening His work, that all the world may know of His love.
4. My Father's Conversion. My father is a convert to the LDS Church. He was married to his first wife and raising a family while teaching in Alaska. His family were (are) devout conservative baptists, and he believed in a loving God and Jesus Christ. His life was forever changed when some friends started investigating the church and he collected anti-Mormon literature from his family to share with them. This anti-Mormon literature caused him to question, "Really? They believe this?" He decided to ask one of his peers who was a member of the Mormon church about the details that caused his curiosity. This lead to more questions, but questions that led him to receive lessons from the missionaries. I know that if it weren't for someone sharing the truth with my father, I would not be here. He would never had joined the church and received the blessings of the temple, nor would have he moved to Idaho, nor would he have met my mother, and ultimately, I would not have been blessed to be his daughter. I owe everything to the truth of this Gospel.
5. He Has Given Everything For Me. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 KJV) God provided a Plan of Salvation, a beautiful world for us to have our mortal experience in, and a means for us to return to Him. God gave us His Son, Jesus Christ who suffered, bled, and died that we may live and stand spotless in His presence at the last day. Jesus Christ was rejected and reviled by men, yet did not shrink to drink the bitter cup that we may know his love. This infinite love has sacrificed and given and asked but one thing in return--my whole heart. I know that this service is helping me give back to Him, by both strengthening my faith in Him and by doing His will, by sacrificing even 18 months of my life. How can I not give when I have been given everything?
So that's my story. I am so excited to serve Heavenly Father as a missionary in Scotland/Ireland! I plan to give all I have to Him. I know this has been a long post, so forgive me, I'll try to be better at being brief! :)
