Roller Coaster

Hello Hello! 

This is gonna be a quicky. My prayers go out to all those affected by the flash floods in Rexburg! I hope it'll all go okay with the aftermath...

Monday, pancakes, dinner with members (the Irvines) and chapping.

Tuesday, we taught Nick the Plan of Salvation! Huzzah for Isreal! He already had an idea that there should be three degrees instead of just heaven or hell and that we were somewhere before birth! He is so so prepared! He's thinking about baptism and he asked us what he would have to change in his diet and conduct, and when we told him a little about the Word of Wisdom he said he already doesn't drink or smoke, and he's already been cutting back on caffeine.... WHAT?! Sometimes, its too good to be true. TOUCH WOOD. We're excited also, because Nick is studying to be a sign language interpreter and the elders just happened to find a new investigator this week whose DEAF. Heavenly Father really knows what he's doing. 

We saw Thomas finally and talked to him about his commitment and all seemed fine. 

Wednesday we saw Iris and she has non-member friends over and one of them even said he wants to come to church with her to see what she's been talking about! Yay! Hopefully that will happen! it rained and rained and we had our appointment with Scott drop. We taught Thomas about a living prophet and obedience and all seemed fine.

Thursday was AWESOME, because we were in Edinburgh with all the missionaries in East Scotland to learn from Elder Dykes of the Seventy! It was really great meeting. President Brown talked about being diligent and Sister Dykes talked about Enoch (awesome reading for the humble missionary in Moses) and Elder Dykes covered A LOT, mostly about the false traditions of missionaries, improving our obedience and what we can do to help people pray, feel the Spirit, and become really converted. 

We meant to teach Jade when we got back, but she wasn't there. We saw Kirsty and Dee though, and talked about the 12 Tribes a bit. But Kirsty was really tired and out of it because she hasn't been sleeping well due to a newly found heart condition. If you could pray for her, that would be great <3 

Friday we did service for a non-member named Amber whose friends with our less-active friend Gillian, and she really really could benefit from the gospel, because of what she shared with me, being a widow with two small girls. I really want to teach her! We went and helped Gillian with some math for a test to join the police force that she's been struggling to get through with dyslexia. We saw Sarah and she's still great and 16 so she can come teaching with us now!

We had her come to teach Thomas at the church on Saturday... and he didn't come. With all the trials he's facing right now, he's going to drop the missionary discussions. I don't have time to explain more. We had pancakes with Sarah to make up for her coming to the church. That was fun! 

Sunday was a roller coaster and shan't be spoken of. It was okay, but one must always expect 

opposition. I feel like that sister on the District, yelling, "JUST COME TO CHURCH!!" Ach. Oh Oh well, agency.

I love y'all so much! Thank you for your prayers!

Love,

Sister Kirkpatrickwell, agency.

I love y'all so much! Thank you for your prayers!

Love,

Sister Kirkpatrick

Wonder of Wonder, Miracle of Miracle

My Love Ones,

 

That song from Fiddler on the Roof, the "Wonder of Wonders, Miracles of Miracles, God did a Daniel once again...!"? Yeah, I want to sing that almost everyday as a missionary!

We had great adventures last P-day as we went with Kirsty and Dee (with permission) to Dalkeith/Midlothian, where Sister Passey has a great-great-great-grandfather who helped build a church! It was really cool, and they still hold services in there! We weren't able to go inside, but we peeked in the windows and saw the plaque with his name on it! We walked around the graveyard as well, looking for family names, and Kirsty expertly called the records office and found out that he is buried there, but without a headstone! All the old grave markers are so cool over here! All shapes and sizes! Abraham Moffat, Sister Passey's grandfather was a miner, so we drove over to the miner's museum to see if there would be any information about him, but the result was another source to email for records and information. Then... we went to CostCo! Haha, surprise! It was totally like stepping out of Scotland and into America! It was even organized similarly to the Sam's Club store in Idaho Falls! We mostly just walked around and tried samples, the highlight of which was my first haggis! (I'll send photos soon) I liked it. I admit it. It was herb-y. They had prepared it Greek-style (haha!) on a pita with Tatsiki (sp?) sauce! So funny, my first haggis was in Costco. Also, we got Krusteaz Pancake Mix! Huzzah! That's on the agenda for today... :) Kirsty and Dee were so much fun, and they take really good care of us. They even bought us CostCo hot dogs. Good stuff.

We had FHE with Linda Meade, a ward missionary, who's been really good at helping us organize cottage evenings, investigator/less-active lessons in member's homes. She's a good lady, and a good mom.

Tuesday we had a Zone Meeting in Edinburgh, which including a 20-minute walk to the church from the train station in the rain. And we were slightly luckier than a couple of elders... oh, everyone was wet. But it was a really great, inspired meeting about diligent, faithful finding! Forever finding, talking to everyone, faithful in that the Lord is preparing people, and preparing us to meet them! Also a new finding method to make goals and plans for each day- QGC's, Quality Gospel Conversations, which includes teaching, asking questions, testifying, committing and setting a return appointment! It really is stepping up the ante for our conversations with people.

We did some finding in Callendar Park, which was a good experience, met some good people, and chapped a couple of doors before we went to teach A NEW INVESTIGATOR!

SCOTT is wonderful. He is single, about 37, and works as carer in an elderly home of dementia patients. He's a musician and film junkie and a really, really deep thinker. The man can talk for Scotland. That is our main challenge with him. We'll be with him for an hour and a half and we've taught (or said) barely anything. But he likes that we listen, and what we have said he really likes, and the thoughts he's shared that he's developed (no religious background really) really go along with the Plan of Salvation and how God really loves us and is mindful of us, but he always emphasizes how we have to be motivated to do things and take advantage of what God gives us, rather than sitting and waiting for Him to make all the decisions. He is inspired. Some things will be a little hard for him to accept, like one specific person is God's prophet on the earth, but he has said himself how he feels like everything has been leading him towards this!

We spent so much time listening to Scott that we had to run with our pizza dinner in hand to the bus station so we could go see Sarah! We invited Sarah to make a list of qualities in someone she would date and/or marry. She turned 16 yesterday and says she'd rather marry her dog than a guy. Good attitude! Lol, jk.

Wednesday was a bit rough, we had a good time with Iris for lunch, got to meet her friend Andy, and see how wonderful and proud Iris is to share her testimony! Then we went out to Denny and had our appointments drop, so we chapped for a couple of hours without success, and were beat by the time we got back to Falkirk to walk up to the church for a Relief Society activity. The activity went great though, it was well-attended, there were crafts and Kirsty taught vegetarian cooking, which was delicious!

Thursday was absolutely marvelous, Sister Kew, the RS Pres. picked us up and we went out to Denny to have A SECOND NEW INVESTIGATOR LESSON!

NICK is absolutely golden. He has a friend who is a member and has been so great to share her beliefs with him, and he has accepted it all, because all the other religions he's learned about just don't answer all the questions and all the Christian faiths disagree and he is just so so prepared. I want to HUG his friend for all she's done to be member missionary! It was fate that we meet him when we did. I'm so so excited for him!

We had dinner with Kirsty and Dee and talked about personal experiences with the priesthood and they took us up to the church for missionary coordination meeting and ward council. We only had one bus ride all day! Thank you, Lord, for really great, caring members!

Friday we went and taught Betty, a less-active member and went and did service in Marina's garden again. Kirsty and Dee picked us up to go help them with a project for a friend. They've put up a garden gate up for her, because she's been battling cancer, and she really deserves some service. She had a ton of beautiful, ripe raspberries that I would've picked for her if I had had something to put them in. Then they took us out to a fish and chip dinner and gave us a lift to pick up Sophie so we could go see Jon. Jon is doing so much better, his head is basically healed and all the stitches have been removed. He has some great stories for his Family History!

Saturday we did service for and had lunch with Sister Downie and Sophie came with us to teach Scott, which turned out similarly, not much taught, but we did teach God is our Loving Heavenly Father and the Gospel Blesses Families, and learned a lot about his family and we tried prophets and dispensations, but it didn't work out before we had to RUN out for an appointment which dropped, so we did some chapping and had a QGC! We had dinner with Sister Kew, the elders and the Eagleshums, which is great. Sister Kew does so much, even though she's challenged by her health, having had a kidney stone for over a year and having to wait until September to have it removed. She works so hard, I wish we could help her somehow, but she's stubborn. More finding... met someone Jewish! That doesn't happen everyday!

Yesterday we had church, and we should always expect opposition Sunday mornings. Ach. But on the plus side, the elder's investigator Courtney finally made it to church! Our meetings were really great, Book of Mormon in Sacrament, Prayer in Sunday School, and Baptism in RS. Great for Courtney, wish we could've gotten someone there. But hey, it'll happen. Sundays are honestly the hardest day of the week. We tried to see Thomas, but he wasn't in again, but we were able to teach Marina and Flora, both of which are struggling with mental/emotional health, especially Flora, so keep her in your prayers.

So, that's me this week! I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and all the ways you have, do now, and will, bless my life. I know God lives! Miracles happen!

Love,

Sister Kirkpatrick!

New Transfer/Slow Week

Hiya, mah wee mates!

Ach, so it was moves week, which is interesting, because we don't get our full p-days on Mondays (we get to email but we have to get right back to work) but we have all day Wednesday to do whatever while everyone shuffles around. So Elder Fisher left for Ireland and Elder Austin got his new son, Elder Livingston from Illinois. 

I'm having a real hard time thinking of what to write about this week, because I got a new planner, and everything is in my old one... 

So Monday we did finding. Tuesday we saw Iris and Sister McPheat (actually did not get sick!) Iris had the bairns there, which were so sweet, and she is so great with them and she has some really funny stories! We went to the Simpsons to pick up Sophie to go see Jon, but she had just left, so we had a good chat with Sister Simpson about how her son serving in London hasn't emailed her in weeks and she'll be calling the mission home soon, and about crazy family members. We related on that. Lol, naw, I love y'all. 

Wednesday we were in the flat nearly all day, we did some shopping and went to find some tartan to make a scripture cover! All the missionaries make one, I just need to pick one. I printed out photos to put in my smash book and worked on putting that together and wrote a couple of letters while Sister Passey wrote 9 letters and worked on a tartan cover for Dee's birthday this week. (We weren't able to see them at all last week because they were on family holiday, but we're seeing them almost everyday this week :) )

Thursday...more finding. Friday was the 4th, and we sang The Star Spangled Banner for companion study, had chicken curry and root beer for lunch with the Watts, and I made crepes for dinner. Haha, that was my Scottish American Independence Day. We had a great cottage evening with Marina and Sister Meade Friday night which Sarah was supposed to come to, but her gran was sick and she had to stay with her. But we had a good friendly conversation and personal experiences instead of a formal lesson, and that really helped Marina more than one of our normal visits to help resolve her concerns. 

Saturday ended up making all the difference this week. To be perfectly honest, it was a slow week (full of BA Christians, my least favorite). We weren't able to contact or see Thomas until Saturday, for two main reasons: He got a new phone, and the Lord knows best. He's been on some serious medication for 30+ years now, and the doctors took him off it with nothing to replace it this week. He had a really hard week , and the Lord knew it would be better if we didn't see him until Saturday. We were struggling with finding new people to teach and not having any investigator lessons at all, but then Saturday we saw 3 potential investigators who all want us to come back! I'm so excited for this part of the vineyard. People ARE interested, and they DO want to change. We are just working so hard to help guide them there! 

I'm not sure if I told you about the referral we received, a Sister McKenna (the sister of Sister Wilford, the bishop's wife in Alloa) whose 9-year-old daughter wants to be baptized, but needs the missionary lessons. We're really excited for a really solid investigator and we already see excitement from the branch members who know the family and want them to be active in Falkirk . (They currently attend Alloa if they go). They have already offered to drive us to Linlithgow which would be a long journey by bus. We're really looking forward to it! 

Sunday was good. Testimony meeting followed the order of operations, mostly: Andrew McCormack, Brother Irvine, Brother Gibb, Sister Irvine... I had a low moment, but Sister Kew gave an awesome lesson in RS about Being Made Whole (a recent conference talk) that really helped. We really can be made whole if we forgive others and recognize that we are children of God with infinite worth!

I have a testimony of this work, of God's love for all of his children and His Perfect Knowledge and Plan for each of individual. He guides us and He ALWAYS answers our prayers! We have faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and we show that faith through our actions. We need to live what we believe and let everyone know the good news!

I love my Heavenly Father and I love you all! 

Sister Kirkpatrick

Running

Dear Family and Friends,
I feel like I've been running more here in Scotland than I have my entire life. Running to get places, running for exercise, running out of time....

So! HIYA! 

This week's been good, it's gone by so fast! This week is the last in this transfer... WHAT? We received my first moves call last night... WHAT? I'm staying in Falkirk with Sister Passey. No surprise :) But Elder Fisher will be moving to Ireland this week and Elder Austin will be both district leader and training a new missionary! Again! He had just finished training in his last area and he's already having another son :) It's sad to see Elder Fisher go, but I'm excited to not be the only trainee here in Falkirk :)

I hope y'all have an EXCELLENT Independence Day this week! Go see the parade, support the band, eat a burger for me. (Seriously, I have not had a burger in 2 months. I'm going nuts!) It doesn't feel like July already. Times flies. Congrats to Ayeli Ovalles who was baptised this week in Rexburg!! My heart-felt condolences to the family of Elizabeth Bossard. She is a light that will never be extinguished. 

So, lets see what happened this week. We got to see Kirsty and Dee twice and watch Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, which was excellent. They're on holiday until next week, so we're really going to miss them. We sent them off with a couple of road-trip snack bags :)

We've seen huge improvements in Thomas and the Word of Wisdom, but it still is a struggle. He's definitely cut back, but it's going to take a while. We had an AWESOME joint teach with him up at the church (we had to ride out to Denny and go get him to make it happen, but he got there!) with Sister Irvine, Kirsty's mom, and she was a power-house! She immediately started testifying and was the perfect fellowshipper! 

I met another less-active this week, named Samantha, and she's really cool. I look forward to teaching her.

We had a rubbish day in Bo'ness where the only thing that worked out was lunch with Iris and dinner with Sister Kew, which left me so sick I had to "fake" nausea at sister kew's just so I wouldn't have to eat any more. I felt bad, but remember what I said about FEASTS? Yeah. That may happen again this week. Oh, double meal appointments. :P

Jon had a fall this week. He missed the bus and tried to walk to the Post Office by himself, and fell, splitting his face open and bruising enough to make his eye swell shut. An ambulance was called, and he's okay, but he looks rubbish with the bruising and stitches.

We found out that Jade went down to London this week, but we'll see her soon so she can come to church and "have a blessed day" (her words!) 

A documentary about a mormon missionary was on the tellie this week, and it didn't sit well with members, especially our less-actives. The movie people spinned it to be negative that we leave our families, spend so much money, are "chaperoned" 24/7 by a companion only to get doors shut in our face. They also showed inappropriate material regarding the temple. It's going to be a real issue to address. 

I don't know if I've told you about Sarah, she's a less-active youth that has a great testimony, she just isn't completely confident in sharing or completely living it, especially around her mum. Her mum is kind of irresponsible, and I feel bad. But she has a great spirit and understanding of the gospel! She actually feels like one of my nieces :)

Church was good, even though Thomas didn't show up again. Sister Passey spoke in Sacrament in a power-house lineup with the topic of Joseph Smith, in honor of his martyrdom on June 27. 

I really have a testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet and man, and I know that he died for what we're doing here: bringing truth to ALL, whose souls who are great in the sight of God. I know that God lives, He loves us and has provided a Plan that is perfect and perfectly individual, and through His Son, it is available to ALL.

I love you all so very much,

God Be With You.

Sister Kirkpatrick