Hiya! from the shores of bonny Scotland,

 Here's the update:

Monday was Zone Development, which was great. Then, we drove back to Montrose with Sister Montgomery, one of the STL, who stayed with us in a trio for a few days, because her companion, Sister Sawyer was in the Easter Concerts this week. So it was fun. Its hard tracting in a trio, but the car was a perk, and Sister Montgomery is a lot of fun. 

We had a half p-day on Tuesday, and then we tried by a potential and met his wife. They are Philippino, and she remembers living down the street from the Mormon church in the Philippines. She warmed up to us eventually, but it'll be hard to catch them both between their work schedules. 

We drove out to Forfar to see Grandma--turned out to only be a 10 minute visit, but it wasn't far from the Watsons, who we were seeing for dinner. The Watsons are great. Their kids are so smart!!

We did some finding, and saw Louise on Wed. We met a great guy named John when chapping around a former who we found out has moved. We have another appointment with him this week. We also met a less-active lady who simply has drifted away from the church over time and moving place to place, and she said we could come back, honestly saying that she doesn't know if she'll do anything about it now after so long. But we'll see her again. Oh! Guess what?! I drove for the first time in the U.K. on Wed. It was kind of scary, but fun, and now I can say that I've driven on the left side! (its weird. still prefer the right side.)

We had lunch with Sister Craib on Thursday--she's so great! and then we traveled to Dundee again to see the Easter Choir perform! Tracy, Lesley, and their friend Jennifer came :) So great, it was a lovely performance and I GOT TO SEE SISTER MORRISON! Happy day! I love her so much!! That's the first time I've seen a past companion--the other ones have died or gone to Dublin. Sister Morrison is amazing and talented, and I miss her. Ach. Well--there are commitments to be kept with her in November ;) 

Friday we had the opportunity to do service for and lunch with Sister Maxton, an amazing member who is a NJ RM. She is great! and such an amazing member missionary! She's a great example to me. 

We saw Fred (he's doing okay--he came to church, but we're not sure if his brain damage has affected his accountability if he can't really learn much) and Lesley (she's doing good. coming up with good questions to ask us :) ) and Shaun (he's so awesome! We talked about the BoM, church, and baptism and he just is accepting it all! Hopefully he can come to General Conference, and guess what--he's praying about a baptismal date! So cool.)

Saturday we spent time planning the third and last Everyday Missionary lesson for the Priesthood/RS. (It went okay, kind of had technical difficulties, which delayed the start, and we kinda had to rush, but it seemed to go okay). We saw Grandma Tough for dinner with the Hayballs, and had a good talk about where she's at right now, spiritually and physically. 

We had two back-to-back meal appointments on Sunday--confirmed my testimony that I was set apart with two stomachs! One was with the Hendersons--we're going to find out if we're related somehow! and the other was with Tracy--I love her. Hopefully she progresses further with the things she knows are right. 

So yeah, things have been kind of crazy this week. Hope you're all doing well! I love you!! Keep up your faith! #BecauseHeLives! Go watch and share the video! I know He Lives! He loves us! Find Him! 

With all the Spirit I can muster: I love you!

Always Yours,

Sister Kirkpatrick

God Does Perform Miracles

Warning, Novel Following:

Miracles do happen, and our prayers and commitment to the Lord resulted in finding a totally prepared new investigator! Monday night we were out between 8 and 9, it was cold and wet and dreary--nobody seemed to be out, let alone interested in stopping to talk to us, but--! We approached a man who was standing by the harbor, watching the water, and we met and got to know Shaun! He is incredible! He had one question about the Word of Wisdom, and then Sis. Skagen invited him to read the Book of Mormon, and he accepted it! We were so excited that we had met someone so quickly after setting a date for Friday the 20th! We actually made a return appointment with him--for the 20th!! To be continued in the following...

Also Monday night, we had a fun FHE with a family with early Primary aged children, their grandmother is an active member, and works so hard to teach her grandchildren the way and the truth! They're probably ADHD, so it was only a nursery-length lesson, but the 7 year old has expressed a desire to be baptised! So great! 

We went on exchanges this week, and I was with Sister Montgomery! She's great, and we had fun speaking with a lady named Lina, who was very funny, and she took a Book of Mormon and our number to give us a call when she develops an opinion on it!

We saw Tracy--she's doing super good with comprehension of the Book of Mormon, and when she makes the commitment to, she'll read on her own! 

Louise is a LA who hasn't been to church in a really long time, but she really opened up about her testimony this week! I love the process of rekindling the fire someone felt at their conversion and baptism! 

Thursday we had Zone Conference, which was awesome! President and Sister Brown gave instruction together about receiving revelation through the Spirit, and the APs gave some inspired instruction on listening to and following the Spirit in lessons! It was a great learning experience for Sis. Skagen and I!

Fred is doing good--we don't think his comprehension is very good, but he feels the Spirit, and he loves it. Not sure how to help him understand enough to pass an interview though :/

SO, remind yourself of the first paragraph of this email---now, Shaun! We taught him on Friday after a chain of events of being late out of a dinner appointment with a part-member family, having our Joint Teach bail, and a miscommunication about where we were meeting, we finally found him back at the harbor, and we sat down and taught him the Restoration! The Spirit was so strong! And he accepted everything! He believes that there could be a prophet on the earth today, and he's so excited to read the Book of Mormon! He doesn't yet see a necessity to come to church, but he said he'll come at some point. He just feels so close to God and extremely blessed--he's just so humble and kind! Its incredible! and he said the closing prayer for us and it was so sincere! I'm so excited for him :) 

Saturday we had a ward activity, "Disney Music Mania" and we and the Hayballs lip-synched "I've Got a Dream" from Tangled--dressed as thugs--haha! It was hilarious! the members were such great sports and so fun :) I must say I still dominate on Disney music trivia--even with post-mission-amnesia! 

Ward Conference on Sunday was awesome. There were so many people there (but no investigators--poo) and the Spirit was great. Pres. Sneed changed his talk a bit to be about loving one another and being unified, throwing in an invitation to read EDM at the end. :) It was a long but great day, including a dinner appointment with a part-member family :) Love it.

I love Montrose! So many miracles in this so-called dead area! Great things are happening! We're keeping busy! I know God hears and answers our prayers! He loves us, and He'll play His part when we give our hearts and whole selves to Him and His labour! 

Love you all! Be safe and sound this week! Keep praying!

Yours Always,

Sister Kirkpatrick

Transfers in the Dundee Zone

Dearly Beloved, 

Following our crazy moves call, we cancelled and made appointments and made a last-ditch effort to say goodbye to as many people as possible. (Makes for good numbers, because then you see people twice in one week). Crazy packing ensued, and then before we knew it, we were off to Dundee, and Sister Wilkin went on to Edinburgh for leadership training. Lots of turn-over this transfer in new leadership, which was good and sad, but these new leaders are going to be great! Also meant a lot of new missionaries in our District and Zone, which is exciting :) 

I got to spend moves with the marvellous Sister Solum! She's beautiful and wonderful and I learned a lot from her in just 24 hours. Dundee is an amazing area! So many amazing people to talk to! Sister Skagen was supposed to arrive Wednesday night, but the ferry and bus journey was majorly delayed, so all of the missionaries coming from Ireland had to settle in Edinburgh for an extra night. I had some... unique experiences waiting alone at the train platform, arriving Tuesday night, waiting to see if she'd show up Wed. night and then Thursday, seeing where she was and jumping on to go on to Montrose! Kind of scary. Kind of exciting. It was fine. 

We settled in on Thursday, and Sis. Skagen was dead, but we did our best to keep going! We saw the Glanvilles, who are great, and it was interesting lesson about the Plan of Salvation with pertinent questions. I hope we can find them the answers! 

Friday we met with a new investigator named Fred Addison. The senior couple, the Hayballs came with us, and we taught the Restoration. He has read the Book of Mormon, but due to some brain damage, he doesn't really retain much :/ And he's going to need to clean up his lifestyle, but I know that the Lord can change people! We're just going to have to teach slowly and simply! 

We also saw Lesley, and it was a great lesson about the Apostasy and Restoration, and she had questions about baptism--which we were only too happy to help her with! She doesn't learn really fast, but she is! Slowly but surely! 

Sunday was British Mother's day, and we got daffodils from the Primary--haha, didn't expect to get a mother's day gift on my mission! We celebrated with Tracy, she made us an amazing dinner and I made dessert--a big apple pancake! I think it turned out pretty well--at least the ice cream was good! We read 2 Nephi 10 with her, and this verse stood out to her:

Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

We talked to her about our choices, and how good choices bring us closer to God. I asked her how she thought she could come closer to God, and after a pretty basic answer, Sister Skagen challenged her to make a goal of what her next step should be. We pray that her prayers will be answered and that she'll know what her next step is--hopefully towards baptism! 

Oh, and we taught in Relief Society about EDM, and they role-played, and it was great--I love them all so much! And--Fred came for all three hours! Yay!

Things are shaping up to be super busy this week, but we've committed to find a man in his 30's who can contribute to the ward here by Friday, the 20th of March, so all your prayers will make all the difference! Thank you so much for all your faithful prayers and love!!! 

Love always!

Sister Kirkpatrick

Staying in Montrose

Farewell to Sister Wilkin

So yesterday started off with a surprise moves call! Sister Wilkin has only been in Montrose for 3 months, but I guess she's so awesome that the Lord just HAD to call her to be a Sister Training Leader in Dublin :) My new companion's name is Sister Skagen. She hasn't been out too long, I only met her briefly in Ireland, but our "yearbook" informs me that she's from Pennsylvania. Fun stuff. Who knows what'll happen next!

This week has been good, we got our moves call just after walking into a referral's flat (with the Hayballs) that we were meeting for the first time, and when we came back we were shocked and amazed to hear that he actually had met with the elders in Arbroath before, and is in his third time through the Book of Mormon since then! Crazy! He says he knows its true, but hopefully that means acting on that knowledge! He's not one you would guess would be prepared to receive the gospel, but you cannot predict who will or will not be interested in the gospel! He's going to need to make some lifestyle changes, but with the Lord, all things are possible! 

We're still struggling to contact our investigator Eamonn, which can be frustrating, but it sounds like the elders struggled with that with him before.

Tracy and Lesley are still doing good, we just need to love them boldly and invite them to change! Lesley is making strides in reading the Book of Mormon! 

Oh, and a former investigator contacted this week and really wants to meet with us again! She has to meet us outside of her home, at the church or something, because she has lots of cats--you know me and my obnoxious allergies, but she is hoping to find some happiness again. 

I was very uplifted by our District Meeting this week, in which we talked about Member Missionary Work, and I love the initiative for it so much! We all agreed that its so key to have the members trust us, and that we help strengthen their testimonies and help them overcome fears and obstacles in inviting their friends to learn about the gospel. 

Oh, we had the most HILARIOUS night with the Glanvilles this week! Its like a TV episode... and everybody just lets go and starts giggling--conveniently right before the prayer! We always have to send Bro. Glanville out of the room so we can regain composure! Haha, its great. I love them! 

Okay, I got to go, but I love you all! You keep going! Things are going to be GREAT! Lift where you stand and love the Lord thy God!

Love Always,

Sister Kirkpatrick

Wisdom learned in Montrose

Dear, Lovely People,

So this week has been good, there were some speed bumps along the way, but hey, maybe I'll actually turn out to be a patient mum when I get home. Eamonn has been kind of out of touch this week--I'm pretty sure there's more speed bumps for him than there is for us, as far as his situation goes. Keep him in your prayers. 

Monday we went to Dundee for Zone Development, which was really fun. We played some sports, multi-room werewolf (version of mafia) (I got killed off pretty quick), a box game where you bend over and pick up a cereal box without your hands or knees touching the floor or box (so, your mouth) and it gets cut down a bit at a time, and other stuff too.... Got to chat with some great people :)

Tuesday we had Family History, where I tried to help a member find dates and records... Yeahhh, I'm not sure what I'd ever do if that was my actual calling.... :) And the STLs arrived to sleep over before exchanges on Wednesday, and it was Sister Martin's birthday! Sister Martin is Sister Wilkin's trainer, so we were excited and got cake and ice cream and put up a banner and balloons for her :) 

Wednesday I went to Dunfermline with Sister Martin! It was really fun, and we found out we read all the same books back home, haha :) Don't find someone like that all the time! We had a lesson with their investigator who is getting baptised really soon :) and we only had like, 15 minutes to do some chapping, but we got a potential in that 15 minutes! It was so great. The Lord really blesses the leaders of this mission, as they try to keep their area afloat as they travel for meetings and exchanges all the time! 

Thursday we saw Tracy and read the Book of Mormon with her again. She's doing well, I'm still praying to find out what her real barriers are, so we can help her accept baptism. She's busy, but if she wanted to, and knew it was right, I know that she would do what it takes to make it there! She's practically a member in a lot of ways already! 

Friday we got to know a member a little better by reading the Book of Mormon with her. We decided to travel to a village north of Montrose to do some tracting, and it was pretty scenery, even if we didn't find anyone interested. It was a really cold day, and as we waited for the bus back, we were shivering. Then, it didn't come. Then, the next one came, but it was only going half-way back to Montrose. When we got half-way back, we were waiting for the next bus, it didn't seem like it was going to show either, but then, Tender Mercy: a less-active member we've only met once pulled up, picked us up, and took us home! Thank heavens! We were so grateful! And it was a great opportunity to talk to her more! Then we saw the Glanvilles, which is always great :)

Then we saw Lesley, and she's been reading so much! She's progressing great, and we'll help her know that she can change, because of her faith and knowledge when she comes to know its true for herself! 

Saturday we saw the Relief Society Pres. for lunch, which was good, and we saw our less-active friend, Louise. She so cheeky, I love her! 

Sunday we taught in Relief Society about member missionary work, taking principles from EDM by Clayton M. Christensen. I can't praise this book enough! It was really a Spirit-led and filled lesson. A couple of sisters shared part of what they learned from it in their testimonies in sacrament meeting! It was so great :) 

I've learned so much about the Atonement and Faith. If we no more than have a desire to believe, we can act on that, and EXPECT MIRACLES! The Lord will do His part, and the evidence can build a testimony of faith, BUT only if we keep the cycle running, so we are continually building our faith!

I've also learned how the Savior had to learn everything from the beginning, just as we do, without a memory of the pre-existence, but He gave us an example of perfect revelation, too! He followed His Father's will, and heard His voice, just as you did. I'm sure it probably happened early on for Him, but we have the scriptural evidence in His baptism and his fasting and prayer following! Its incredible, just how great an example, relate-able brother, and loving God He is to us. I feel so much closer, so humbled, and filled with so much wonder and love for Him, with the experiences I've had on my mission and the things I've learned from a diligent study of His life.

Okay, this is long, but I love you all, and I hope you know y'all are so important to me!

Always Yours!

Sister Kirkpatrick