To answer dad's questions. My district covers Falkirk, Hallglen, Grangemouth, Bo'ness, Langlees, Polmont/West Quarter, Stenhousemuir, Denny, and Bonnybridge. And if I missed anywhere in that, well, I probably haven't been there. The elders also assigned to Falkirk branch are Elder Austin and Elder Fisher. They were featured in my photos from P-day to the Kelpies. Elder Austin is the District Leader. We coordinate with them pretty much daily.
Future P-day possibilities: Sterling castle is actually on Sister Passey's mission bucket list, so we probably will get it in there. Don't know about Loch Lomond.
When you took the pictures of the Kelpies, did you also see the Falkirk Wheel? Falkirk Wheel was originally a part of the plan, but we kind of ran out of time to mess with bus schedules, so we just headed back into Falkirk to walk around Callendar House.
This week was an adventure! So much has happened!
Tuesday: after emailing, we went to meet with Linda Hildreth, a super friendly lady who is quite Catholic, but doesn't have a scholarly knowledge of the Bible, but she loves learning from her priest. She had some interesting stories about when she worked as a nurse in a women's prison. She's retired now and her husband recently converted to Catholicism. She absolutely loves America, and she thought we were a breath of fresh air, but really she's just interested in friendly conversations, so we were really just there to give her a good impression of Mormons so that one day she'll be ready.
Wednesday: TORRENTIAL RAIN. ALL DAY. It was kind of rainy before our lunch appointment but then it started really coming down. We were out chapping in it for a good 2 hours. It was this day that I recognized that my water-resistant jacket just isn't good for random torrential storms. We were soaked through, and we were so relieved to get to our dinner appointment though. I had a neat experience though with praying to know where we should be and getting the distinct impression to "stay where you are." It didn't seem to have a lot of results, but there was one home with a mom just leaving for work that may be who we were looking for.
Thursday we met with Sheila again and she still is being stubborn, but Sister Passey has so much faith in her. She has softened so much since they first met her. She knows there's a reason why she let us in, and I think she knows its true but just is dancing around it because she hasn't had a spiritual witness yet. We invited her to watch the Restoration video and read the Book of Mormon and pray to know that both are true. It really is up to the Lord's time and Sheila's agency.
Friday was really good! We went out to Denny and tried to contact a referral from the Zone Leaders, but did meet an interesting old man who needed help spreading some soil then invited us in for a Coke and to meet his wife. He looked like Mr. Fredrickson from UP. This conversation put us at just the right time to meet JAY. Jay is a young mom of two boys, one of which is only a few weeks old! (She looks awesome for being that recently pregnant!) She wanted them to be christened, but hasn't been to church in 8 months. We got a return appointment with her and we are so excited! Then we went and taught Thomas the Plan of Salvation which he took very well! (Continued on Sunday) Then we had dinner with Kirsty and Dee, which is always good. We may get to go with them to see a church one of Sister Passey's grandfathers built once we have permission from President to go a little bit out of our area. We're still trying to figure out what's quite going on with them, because they haven't been coming to church again and they don't seem to really want to talk about it.
Saturday was rainy again but we got to see a member who is the hospital right now. He's quite old and has Parkinson's, but he just seemed really really tired when we were there. He hasn't been able to get up and move after falling asleep and he's fallen a few times and the doctors say he has fluid in his lungs. So pray for Jon McKittrick. We also met a less active who hasn't been to church in years and has developed some more pagan-type beliefs, including praying to Goddess, or Heavenly Mother, and studying the Bible cover-to-cover, mentioning angelology in her study. She collects a ton of really cool crystals though, and she's a high school math teacher with 5 grown children. She kept telling us about how she's not coming to church, which honestly gave us the impression that she wouldn't, even though she probably knows that's where she should be.
Sunday (Yesterday, my one month mark!) was stressful, but good. We were assigned to coordinate a much and mingle after church that turned out okay, but was quite stressful, and we didn't get to plan with the elders for our missionary fireside coming up because of it. But we headed out to Denny, where we finally got in contact with Jade, our referral from the Zone Leaders. She invited us in, and we finally saw why the Zone Leaders were reluctant to hand her over to us and so insistent that we get in contact with her. She is a mom as well, from London, and she was raised Jehovah's Witness, but doesn't really believe any of it. She used to work and rave and drink and smoke all the time before she got pregnant, but her baby has changed her life. She moved to Scotland to be closer to her mom (who is already aware that she's meeting with us and isn't happy about it) and she really wants her children to be raised in a Christian religion that they can know good morals and Jesus. We are so so excited to teach her. She knows very little about the scriptures, but has so much potential!
Then we went to see Jay, who forgot we were coming and was occupied with her infant, which we totally didn't blame her for. But she invited us back again this week, and we'll be sure to call to remind her and confirm the appointment!
Then we went to teach Thomas. OH, Thomas is officially our one and only current progressing investigator and HE HAS A BAPTISM DATE! Woot! He still is praying to know that it is true, but he wants it to be. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and talked about repentance and forgiveness and baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost (including a clarification on Trinity vs Godhead). He has some past transgressions that he has to overcome to be worthy to be baptized and he also has to overcome a smoking addiction, so he needs all the prayers he can get. It was really cool to commit someone to a baptism date on my 1 month mark. Baptism July 26th!
Well, like I said, it is so busy here in Falkirk right now, and I am so happy to be here to see the work move forward and witness miracles everyday! I know that God lives and has a Plan for each of us individually. Everyday I'm awed by the power of the Atonement and Jesus Christ's power and love. The Spirit is real and leads and guides us to exactly where we're supposed to be at the right time. I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. All it takes is study and prayer to know.
I appreciate all your prayers and and thoughts for me and everyone here in Falkirk! I love you all!
Love,
Sister Kirkpatrick
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