imcominhome

Hello family and friends,

Well I guess this is the last email you will get until I see you all on Thursday. I just wanted to write a short letter this week. We had Raynettes baptism and confirmation this week, and it was amazing. The ward came through with some amazing fellowship at her baptism. It has truly been a blessing to watch her grow and progress in her life, and watch her change. Other than that, I am saving some stories for you all! Thank you to everyone for the support, love, and prayers that you have sent in my behalf. I am so grateful for each of you, and I am looking forward to seeing you all again. I have loved every second of this amazing journey. It has definitely been the best thing for my life. I cant wait to take what I have learned and apply it at home. Just because the tag comes off doesn't mean that I will stop being a missionary. I love this great work so much, and I am so grateful for the chance that I had to assist my Heavenly Father. Anyhow, thank you. And I love you. I will see you all on Thursday!!!

Love,

Elder Kirby

HOTwings

 Happy 4th of July!! I can't believe it's the 4th again already!  I love the Book of Mormon so much! So I finally recovered from my migraine, just in time to mess up my back riding bikes this week. Lol satan is working hard against me this week. Nevertheless, we had a pretty great week! But first last week was crazy. Our ward mission leader does this challenge for all of the missionaires going home. You have to eat 5 super hot wings. Like the last one is equivalent to pepper spray...so I had the privilege of doing that last week, and my whole face swole up and I couldn't see or eat anything lol. I'll send some pics home! On a brighter note, Raynette is getting baptized this Saturday! It has been so awesome teaching her, and she has a rock solid testimony. . It should be a great service. New mission President is pretty sweet, we met him yesterday, and we had a good conference! I'm sad I only get him for another week. This week is going to fly by because of meetings and what not. I am loving every second if it though. It is going to be so sweet!!  Keep up the good work, know that I am praying for you.  I will see you Soon! Love you 

Elder Kirby 

Do rags

Hello everyone, 

This week went so fast, but it was so good! We had a lot of cool things happen this week, we went on exchanges, biked a ton of miles, and found an abandoned bridge! Needless to say this week was legendary. I wanted to share a miracle that I thought was pretty sweet. So on Tuesday Elder Winfree and I were riding bikes, and we rode to this area I felt impressed to go to, and when we were riding up, we passed a car with two individuals in it who both waved as we rode by. We reached the end of the road, and we both felt like we should be somewhere else, and on top of that Elder Winfree had left his bag at a previous appointment down the road a little ways, we concluded that we would try somewhere else, but I said "we need to come back here" I wasnt really sure why, but I knew we needed to be there. We had exchanges the next day, and Elder Brinkerhoff and I found ourselves back in that same neighborhood. We started to find, and not soon after, we knocked on a door at the end of the street, and a woman walked out and I immediatly recognized her as one of the individuals who was in the car the day before. She went on to tell us all about all of the problems she was having, and how she had been searching for the truth. She asked questions about why there was so many churches and why there was so many different bibles. We taught her all about the Savior, and about Heavenly Father and why he called prophets, and what it would mean for her to know that there was a prophet on the Earth today. The spirit was really strong, as we gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read from Mosiah chapter two to learn how she could find peace in this life. It was so cool to see how Heavenly Father delayed us the first day, because the prepared person wasnt home, but that he led us back so that we could teach her. Since then, she called the next morning during studies, and asked "do you have your Book of Mormon in front of you?" and she proceeded to ask us questions about what she had read. It was so awesome to be able to meet and teach this lady that day. I know that Heavenly Father really has His hand in this work, and he truly leads us to those who are prepared. So we have been car fasting a little extra this week, and we decided to ride bikes everywhere, and in doing so we rode a TON of miles this week, we even rode to Iowa lol. We are seeing some cool miracles here though, Raynette came to church again this week, and loved it. We set her for baptism on June 30th. She has been progressing so fast, and is truly prepared. We have been spending a lot of time in whats called "Little Italy" its a super old part of Omaha, and in doing so, we came across an abandoned train bridge in the middle of the city. It was pretty neat, and made for some good pictures. Overall, things have been going well here. Elder Brinkerhoff, Elder Stevenette, and I are planning on singing in zone conference this coming week, so that is going to be interesting haha! Anyhow, I hope that you all have a good week, I love you and am so grateful for the love and support. I will see you all soon!

Love,

Elder Kirby

have miracles ceased?

Hello everyone,

This week was legendary, Elder Winfree and I threw down this week, with the help of Heavenly Father of course. We were led to six new investigators this week, who are so prepared. So needless to say, we have been keeping very busy and working as hard as we can. We saw some pretty amazing miracles this week. One that i thought was so cool happened on Thursday, as we were driving, i felt impressed to go down a certain street, so we pulled down and parked. And as we were saying the prayer, i had a thought come to my mind to go to the second door on the right. So we got out and started talking to some people, and didnt have much luck, but i told Elder Winfree about the prompting I had, and we went to the second house on the street. When we knocked, we were greeted by a man that immediately said "come on in Elders." We were a little surprised, but we went in and this nice man sat us down and gave us water. And then he explained that he had met with missionaries before and was almost baptized. So we started to teach him about the gospel, and he continued to say that he was looking for truth. We had a powerful lesson with him and his wife that day, and then we met him again later on in the week. And had another awesome lesson. It was definitely a miracle and i was so thankful to receive that prompting. We also got a random call this week as we were driving, and we talked to a lady who at first introduced herself as a member of the church, she said that she wanted to meet with us. We set up an appointment, and when we were headed to meet with her, she told us to bring an extra Book of Mormon because she had a friend who was looking to change churches. When we got to where we were meeting up, we started asking both of these ladies questions, and come to find out that the lady who called is actually an investigator who is totally converted, but cant be baptized yet because of probation. And the other lady, told us that lately she has been feeling disconnected from Heavenly Father, and she wanted Him back in her life. She told us that she was seeking the truth about which church to join because she wanted to go somewhere where she could feel at home. We taught both of them, and had an amazing lesson. And we met them again later in the week, and set one of them for baptism on the sixteenth. She is the sweetest lady in the world, she prepared for the sacrament all week, and came to church this Sunday, where i know that she had a powerful spiritual experience. We are so excited to continue to meet with her in the future as she prepares for baptism. And lastly we had another cool experience. As we were driving to go finding, i had a thought to go to seventh street, so we did, and it was a kind of sketchy dead end road that didnt have a whole lot of houses on it. We got out and began to find. We didnt have much luck, and even got yelled at by a guy, but we continued up the street. We saw a young family outside with their daughter, and we stopped to talk with them. At first they told us they weren't interested, but then we talked about eternal marriage for some reason, and they told us that they were actually engaged to be married. That was awesome in and of itself, but it peaked their interest, and we were able to teach. They opened up to us about how they were seeking to know truth, and they shared some personal experiences with us that we were able to use to teach and testify of the restored gospel. So what was someone who wasnt interested turned into new investigators who accepted copies of the Book of Mormon, and a return appointment. This whole week was so amazing. We are definitely being so blessed by our Heavenly Father. I am loving every second of serving here in Fontenelle, Elder Winfree and I are also having a ton of fun together, he did Ju Jitsu so we roll around a little bit every now and again. It is awesome. Anyhow all is well here in Nebraska! I cant believe that we are in to June now!! With that being said HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEK MOM! I hope that you all have an amazing week, i love and appreciate you! 

Elder Kirby

sunburns

Hello everyone,

This email will be a little short because we are emailing from the Church because everywhere else is closed! I hope you all had as good of a week as we did! It was so hot this week, and I had the bright idea to tell my comps to put on tanning oil for our car fast day!! Needless to say we got fried...it was a long hot day, but we were able to talk to so many people! We had a lot of fun trekking around. We were able to see Lisa multiple times this week, she is doing so well with quitting smoking. She also came to church this week, and loved it. She is so prepared and her heart is so changed, I love to see the light in her eyes every time we go over. We also found an awesome family this week, last night we stopped by our recent converts house, and he wasn't home,  but we saw a guy outside and I felt like we needed to talk to him, so we approached him and introduced ourselves, and asked if we could share our message more with him, and he invited us right inside. We sat down and began to teach him, and he explained how he had a hole in his heart that he didn't know how to fill, we testified of the Book of Mormon, and taught him the restoration, and as we paused after we shared the first vision, he just sat there and was like...wow...it was so powerful. He said that he would come to church so that we can teach him and his family. It was so amazing!! This week I also got to see Paul from North Platte, he came up to do baptisms in the temple, and I got invited to go with him. And much to my surprise when I got there I was asked to do some baptisms because of the lack of people in the group. It was such an awesome experience. Sadly we got transfer calls this morning, I am staying for my 5th transfer. Both of my companions are being transferred, so that is sad, but my new comp is from Rexburg his name is Elder Winfree, he did a few years of college before and he is a really good missionary! I can't believe how fast time is going, it makes me sick, but I know that it will be a good thing. I am looking forward to seeing you all! I hope that you have a great week! I love you! 

Elder Kirby 

zoo trip

Hello everyone,

Well I cannot believe that it is P day again, it seems like I was just here last week typing my weekly. Needless to say, this week FLEW by! It is crazy how fast the time seems to go. We had a lot of fun this week, received some awesome revelation, and had some bomb lessons. So this week we had our zone conference, and it was so awesome,  loved all of the trainings. Sister Gardner gave one about being a child of God that really touched me, and it was on my mind for the rest of the week. Which leads into the next cool thing that happened this week, as I was praying this week, I was asking Heavenly Father what I could do to help the zone, I asked him to teach me. Well my answer came at around 12 a.m. it was so cool, I guess revelation doesnt wait for sleep lol. I quickly scribbled down the things coming to my mind. The next day we had what we call "family council" which is where the District Leaders and the STL's meet for a quick meeting and discuss what needs to happen in our zone. I was then happy to share the revelation that I received, and we were able to council and discuss all about it! It was so amazing to feel the spirit, and also to learn to receive revelation! I am so thankful for Heavenly Father and His loving guidance. Anyhow, the rest of the week was equally as amazing, we are teaching some pretty amazing people, Lisa is still doing good, she is working so hard to stop smoking, she always tells us that her motivation is her baptism. We are also teaching a pretty sweet family now, and they are doing well, we have an appointment with them this evening.  We went to the Zoo today, we got to go with the Winter Quarters Elders, Elder Brinkerhoff and Elder Johnson, it was a blast. At one of the gorilla exhibits, one of the male gorillas took our white shirts as a threat and charged the glass a couple of times, and then it would just follow us around the cage haha it was so awesome, kinda scary, but legit none the less. We also met a random member that worked there, and she hooked us up with some free sky safari tickets haha! Super sweet! Anyhow, this week was awesome, we are looking forward to yet again a busy week full of meetings and hard work. I cant believe that this is the last week of the transfer. Time flies. Anyhow, thank you for all that you do, I love you all! Have a great week!

Love Elder Kirby

Thunder

Hello everyone,

Happy mothers day! This week was an awesome week, we are seeing so many cool things happen here! First of all, being able to talk to my family, and actually see them was a huge blessing, i am so grateful for technology. It was good to see them. 

So we had a pretty busy week full of odds and ends, but we had a lot of really cool spiritual experiences this week as well. We had interviews this week, and that was amazing as always, its so awesome to be able to spend a little time with President Gardner one on one! He is amazing. We also managed to get everyone interviewed in an organized manner too haha. #miracles. Along with getting to spend time with President this week, we also got to spend time with our stake President, he had all of the Zone Leaders and the STLs in our stake over to have breakfast in his home. It was a good time, he works for Union Pacific, and knows quite a few people from Soda! He is awesome, and we had a really good time. This week we were blessed in finding a new family to teach, the Karen Elders met them, and referred them to us. Well we hadnt even taught them the Restoration yet, but the mom and the 10 year old daughter came to church this last Sunday, and loved it! Later that night we taught the Restoration to the whole family, and set the Mom, Dad, and daughter for baptism in June. It was so amazing, and definitely a miracle from Heavenly Father, as we have continued to pray for prepared individuals to teach!! Lisa is still doing well, she wasnt at church this week, but we are still working with her, and we are helping her prepare for baptism here soon! Last night we had a huge thunder storm, it was so loud that it shook our house, and woke us all up at 3:30 in the morning. It was so wild. This morning, we went and helped one of our members load a moving truck, and the we went shed hunting in the forest right around where we helped move. We didnt find any sheds, but we did see some deer, and also a coyote. And then we wrapped up by playing some basketball at the Stake Center. Overall it was a fun week! This next week should be pretty fun as well, we have our zone conference this week with car inspections, so that will be fun! Anyhow, thank you to all for your prayers and your support. I love you all! 

Love Elder Kirby